Dr. Hussein Ahmed Al-Sarhan – Center for Strategic Studies – University of Karbala.
- Executive summary:
- The essence of the work is not to absorb the increasing number of workers according to familiar policies and plans, but rather the procedures must be part of a new economic vision and a comprehensive economic orientation framed by public policies, especially economic policies.
- An essential part of the success of employment policies is the development of skills and knowledge of the national workforce, as it is not possible to absorb a national plan aimed at confronting unemployment unless it focuses on developing the skills of the workforce through vocational training centers.
- Working on reviewing and approving international agreements, including the International Labor Organization (ILO) agreements regulating work, and the continuous development and updating of national labor laws in accordance with national needs and the policies applied for this purpose.
- The lack of institutional integration and the partisan conflict between ministries affect the advancement of plans for addressing youth unemployment, so there must be political will at the highest levels concerned with implementing employment policies.
- Transferring the issue of addressing youth unemployment to local roles instead of central national roles, and this is through decentralizing delegations to local administrations to address this matter and reduce public pressure on the central government.
- Expanding the competencies of training centers and drawing on international and regional expertise, the national private sector, and foreign investors in developing the skills of workers and building modern training centers.
- Develop a comprehensive plan with a collective formula that all national parties are concerned with implementing, from ministries to agencies, the private sector, unions, and associations. This plan is based on the integration of roles in each of the joints through which it is possible to facilitate the entry of individuals into the labor market.
- A comprehensive legal review and institutional reform with the adoption of national employment policies that have a sovereign dimension.
- Introduction
Iraq: the general context of the country (the nature of the challenge) national employment policies take into consideration a full range of issues, and social and economic aspects, and affect most areas of government work. They are all aimed at providing decent work opportunities in which the observance of international labor standards, social protection, and basic economic rights of workers, along with job creation efforts. Iraq – in accordance with the demographic challenge represented by the high percentage of the population of young people who are able to work – needs to put into effect a vision targeting and assimilating young people with a medium time limit up to 2030. Some sources confirm that youth unemployment in Iraq is 22.7% and that Iraq needs to create at least 5 million job opportunities by 2030, as the number of entrants to the labor market reaches 900,000. While the local market is represented by stagnation, and the inability to grow in return for the increase in people entering it. The duration of the study was set from 2022 to 2030 in line with the vision of the youth in Iraq for the year 2030.
The paper included three main axes:
First: a review of the reality and vision of Iraq with regard to employment policies, after showing the total number of the population, the percentage of youth, and the unemployment rate.
Second: the conceptual framework of employment policies and international initiatives in relation to youth employment policies.
Third: a general framework for national employment policies in light of government plans and visions. It will focus on the vision of youth in Iraq 2030, its implications, and the most important proposals that can enhance employment policies in line with economic plans and strategies (Iraq Vision 2030, the private sector development strategy, and the Millennium Sustainable Development Goals).
