Jobs in Iraq: A Primer of Job Creation in the Short - Term

Luca Bandiera, Vandana Chandra, Jasmine Crystal Fosque, Jan Von Der Goltz, Teresa Anna Maria Peterburs, Nadia Fernanda Piffaretti, Joseph P. Saba and Collette Mari Wheeler

No 30844469, Jobs Group Papers, Notes, and Guides from The World Bank

Abstract: Iraq needs a strategy to make rapid progress in tackling its profound jobs challenges. Iraq is facing a jobs crisis of unprecedented proportions. It could foment a resurgence in violence unless the Government of Iraq makes credible and swift progress in job creation and reconstruction. To shape a longer-term vision, Iraq can look beyond its recent history of conflict, and to its past as a diversified economy & home of an educated workforce. However, in the short-term, neither private/ public sector hiring can create jobs at the desired scale without significant new policy action. The first-best solution for large-scale private sector job creation hinges on structural reforms that must begin now, but are achievable only in the medium to longer term. This paper provides a primer on options to deliver large-scale job creation in the short term, based on investments in construction, agriculture and agribusiness, small & medium enterprises, and vocational skills. Its aim is to outline workable steps for progress in a jobs crisis in a post-conflict situation. Because these steps focus on rapid impact at scale, rather than structural reform, they are less-than-ideal or second-best. A similar logic applies to financing options. Financing needs for jobs are large, and while business climate reforms are under way, first-best private investment in jobs will remain limited. Yet, the recent oil price hike offers the Government of Iraq a uniquely timely opportunity to make an investment in jobs.

Keywords: Job Creation; small and medium enterprise; Damage and Needs Assessment; Agriculture; private sector job creation; access to basic service; average wage of worker; Cost of Doing Business; labor force participation rate; short-term job creation; support sme; number of jobs; access to job; public sector employment; private sector activity; public sector reform; access to irrigation; traditional education system; opportunity for woman; share of woman; vocational skill; water use efficiency; private sector employment; inadequate water supply; children attending schools; water and electricity; lack of finance; irrigation and drainage; source of income; level of private; source income; privileges and immunity; maintenance of road; rehabilitation of infrastructure; unskilled job seeker; demand for food; scarcity of water; investments in agriculture; share of capital; public sector job; Private Sector Growth; food security assistance; Internally Displaced Person; rural labor force; construction of building; Construction Building; local private enterprises; access to finance; local hiring requirements; local private sector; sum of money; national unemployment rate; Business Climate; agriculture sector; food processing; business opportunity; Labor Market; job crisis; construction material; oil price; rural area; unmet demand; land market; light manufacturing; private investment; financing need; factor share; construction sector; job growth; agricultural expansion; total employment; building construction; food system; business capacity; educated woman; unpaved road; private construction; government arrears; human capital; youth population; internal displacement; home community; food product; agricultural production; high share; irrigation system; investment climate; oil revenue; Higher Education; regional conflict; job impact; private ownership; retail trade; construction activities; job opportunity; job opportunities; Host Communities; skill base; Public Employment; educated workforce; financing option; conflict situation; Public-Private Partnership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34
Date: 2019-02-19
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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