“Foreign Labor in Iraq”: Official Figures and Hidden Phenomena in the Labor Market

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[size=52]“Foreign Labor in Iraq”: Official Figures and Hidden Phenomena in the Labor Market[/size]

[size=45]Amid growing controversy over the impact of foreign labor on the Iraqi labor market, the Parliamentary Labor Committee confirmed that the presence of these workers does not pose a major threat to the local economy.[/size]
[size=45]Although Iraqi laws limit the percentage of foreign workers to no more than 20% in workplaces, some sectors record higher percentages. These discrepancies open the door to further discussion about the regulation of the labor market and the challenges facing effective implementation of the laws.[/size]
[size=45]“The government and the private sector must invest in training programmes aimed at improving the skills of local talent, which will increase their ability to compete in the market,” said economic expert Abdulrahman Jumaa, adding that “encouraging entrepreneurship by providing financial and technical support to small and medium enterprises can contribute to creating new job opportunities for local talent.”[/size]
[size=45]He explained that “the government should work to improve the investment climate by reducing bureaucracy and providing incentives to local investors, which contributes to attracting investments and increasing demand for local competencies,” indicating that “supporting research and development can help enhance innovation in the local market, which increases demand for specialized skills.”[/size]
[size=45]Jumaa added: “We must focus on developing technical and vocational education to create a generation of skilled workers capable of meeting market needs,” stressing that “there must be clear policies that encourage companies to employ local talent instead of relying on foreign workers.”[/size]
[size=45]The Parliamentary Labor Committee confirmed that the percentage of foreign workers in Iraq does not have a significant impact on the local market.[/size]
[size=45]Committee member Jassim Al-Moussawi said in a press interview that “the percentage of foreign workers does not exceed 20 percent in any work site,” indicating that this “is in line with Iraqi laws,” adding: “But sometimes it is not this percentage, but rather exceeds it by a lot.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Moussawi pointed out that “foreign companies that contract with the government need foreign workers, but their numbers remain small and do not have a significant impact on the local market.”[/size]
[size=45]He added: “We are keen to raise the rate of national labor participation in the labor market, especially since Iraq has enormous human energies that need to be qualified to keep pace with technical developments in the field of work.”[/size]
[size=45]He stressed the "importance of training and qualifying Iraqi youth to play their role effectively in driving the national economy."[/size]
[size=45]Regarding illegal workers, he stressed “the need to limit this phenomenon and intensify monitoring by the relevant authorities and the Ministry of Labor to follow up on violations and infractions,” noting that “strict legal measures must be taken against violators, or their legal status must be settled.”[/size]
[size=45]For his part, the economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, acknowledged that “the percentage of skilled and specialized foreign workers in Iraq constitutes only 15% of the total foreign workers, compared to 85% of them being unskilled and useless workers.”[/size]
[size=45]Saleh said in press statements that “highly skilled or specialized expatriate workers constitute 15% of the total expatriate workforce in the country, while the remaining percentage, which is close to 85% of those foreign workers working in our country, are of medium or limited skill.”[/size]
[size=45]Saleh added: “We find that most of them have expired work contracts, but they are still working or are illegal immigrant workers.”[/size]
[size=45]He explained that “the cost of annual remittances for foreign workers is estimated at no less than two billion dollars annually, at the very least, in light of the presence of foreign workers working with oil companies and the costs of their salaries being very high, and they constitute 70 percent of the percentage of workers in the oil sector in the central and southern governorates.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “the competition for job opportunities created by foreign workers versus local workers for jobs is one of the most important problems in our country, without forgetting that the increasing numbers of foreign workers, especially illegal ones, creates pressure on the infrastructure and leads to pressure on resources and public services such as housing, health care, and others.”[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the number of foreign workers in Iraq is estimated at about one million workers, 95% of whom are illegal, and out of the total number there are 850 thousand workers, some of whom have intermediate experience or limited skills.[/size]
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