A burden that exhausts the state budget.. More than 3 million employees in the public sector

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[size=52]A burden that exhausts the state budget.. More than 3 million employees in the public sector[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Hussein Hatem[/size]
[size=45]Iraq occupies the first place with the highest number of employees in the world, as out of every 150 citizens there is one employee, while the government seeks to reduce the budget’s dependence on oil from 93% to 80% within 3 years from now.[/size]
[size=45]According to economists, the number of employees exceeds three million, while about eight million employees and retirees are funded from the general budget by the Ministry of Finance.[/size]
[size=45]The economic and financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, said in an interview with (Al-Mada) that “out of every 150 Iraqi citizens there is one employee,” noting that “the percentage of public employees is estimated at 37% of the total labor force in Iraq, which indicates That Iraq is the highest in the world in the number of public sector employees.[/size]
[size=45]Salih added, "Iraq annually witnesses the entry of 500,000 people into the labor market, which contributes to putting more pressure on the government to provide job opportunities in the public sector."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The rents of the oil-dependent economy by 93% for 30 years have employed only about 1% of the labor force in Iraq in the oil sector, as the main problem lies in the weakness of the investment side," citing "about 9,000 lagging investment projects." In the country, with a value of $250 billion, it could have provided tens of thousands of jobs.”[/size]
[size=45]Saleh pointed out, "The population is increasing rapidly," expecting that "it will reach about 60 million after 10 years, and this will pose a challenge to future governments in the event that dependence on oil remains."[/size]
[size=45]He explained, “The current government program establishes a breakthrough point,” pointing out that “the state aspires to reduce the budget’s dependence on oil from 93% to 80% within 3 years from now, by relying on various revenues.”[/size]
[size=45]And Saleh stated, “There is a government approach through two tracks, the first is by investing oil revenues in the development fund for private sector lending and projects, and the second is through establishing a sovereign wealth fund that will operate sovereign assets internally for the benefit of the economic system to form what he described as a lever for the economy.”[/size]
[size=45]According to a report published by the “Iraq Future” Foundation concerned with economic affairs, the percentage of workers in the government sector in Iraq amounted to 37% among a group of countries included in the study, as the government sector is considered the most pressure on the state’s general budget, which goes in its entirety as salaries for employees, without the presence of real production equivalent to this. High expenditures as a result of not creating an investment environment that contributes to encouraging the private sector and providing job opportunities through it, which increases pressure on the public sector.[/size]
[size=45]According to the Iraq Future Foundation, Saudi Arabia ranked second with a rate of 35.3% in the number of employees to the labor force, followed by China with a rate of 28%, and the study included 12 countries.[/size]
[size=45]In turn, the specialist in economic affairs, Safwan Qusay, said in an interview with (Al-Mada), that “the total number of employees exceeds 3 million, while about 8 million Iraqis are funded by the Ministry of Finance, between an employee and a retiree.”[/size]
[size=45]Qusai added, "These large numbers of employees constituted a heavy burden on the country's general financial budget," calling for "financing the retirement fund itself and not through the Ministry of Finance." He pointed out, "The private sector has become very necessary to relieve pressure on state institutions away from the rentier economy."[/size]
[size=45]For his part, the spokesman for the Ministry of Planning, Abdul-Zahra al-Hindawi, said in an interview with (Al-Mada) that “the number of employees in general is registered with the Ministry of Finance,” noting that “the Ministry of Planning is working to follow up the procedures for the job number.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hindawi added, "Our ministry has completed more than 90 percent of the job number project, and we have registered more than three million and 300 thousand job numbers."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hindawi added, "What remains are a few formations, and there are procedures and continuous work by the Ministry of Planning to complete them."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "all institutions are covered by the job number without exception," noting that "the project includes state employees in all ministries and governorates."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hindawi said, "The project aims to know the real and accurate number of employees. There is a problem facing the state, represented by the large number of employees. We are talking about millions of employees involved in state departments."[/size]
[size=45]He explained, "One of the goals of the project is to reveal double salaries, and we have a problem with this issue in a number of state employees. There are double salaries in their salaries, and the problem of fictitious or alien employees." A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Cougar, had revealed earlier that the number of employees in the country exceeds the global proportions by about 9 times, in addition to the international standards for the public job for all societies that impose the presence of one employee for every 100 individuals, which contradicts the Iraqi reality, And it leads to the conclusion that about 9% of Iraqis work in government institutions as employees who are still in the public service.[/size]
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