Volume 1 Cedric - revised luca Final - RUIG-GIAN

Table 5: Unemployment and underemployment rates in Iraq as of mid-October 2003 bygovernorate among the population aged 15 and above (excluding the Kurdistan governorate)No Governorate Unemployment (%) Underemployment(working hours - %)Underemployment(income - %)1 Nainava 31.2 16.6 20.72 Tamim 19.4 28 253 Dialah 31.2 22 24.84 Anbar 33.3 28.1 12.95 Baghdad 33 13.7 12.76 Babil 21.6 56 437 Karbala 14 21.4 22.28 Wasit 16 25.3 37.19 Salah Aldeen 25.4 23.1 25.910 Najaf 18.1 27.5 24.111 Qadisiah 23.5 33.9 28.112 Muthana 28.2 33.2 36.513 Thi Qar 46.2 34.2 24.614 Mesan 30.5 20.9 19.115 Basrah 15.5 19.5 12.1Source: CSO, 2004Total Iraq 28.1 23.5 21.2We may therefore consider, according to official data, that post war unemploymentrates range between 28 and 30 per cent of a total labour force of 7 to 8 million people. 69Statistics also show a sharper increase of unemployment in urban areas due mainly to arural-urban migration and the entry of women in the labour market.The 15 Employment and Vocational Training Centres (EVTC) affiliated with MoLSAwere reactivated during 2003. EVTCs reportedly managed to locate 223,758 job seakersout of the 650,000 unemployed registered with these centres up to February 2005. 70This rise in unemployment may be linked to a number of causes:• a sharp reduction in investment incentives and risk costs, coupled with thepostponement of most of the State’s projects;• the abolition/shutdown of labour-intensive State establishments such as the army,administrations, and many SOEs;• the still limited benefit gained out of the reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes,mostly awarded to foreign companies with marginal Iraqi participation in terms ofemployment and returns;• the corruption and misuse of the widely-scattered resources that led to disappointmentand undermining of efforts to address the aforementioned problems;• the insecurity and weak authority of law-enforcement so far, thus discouraging newinvestors and reducing business opportunities.69 CSO, Employment and Unemployment Survey, July 200470 Interview, EVTC, MoLSA, 200559