Iraqi “Planning”: There is no justice or equality in public sector salaries

The Iraqi Minister of Planning, Khaled Battal Al-Najm, stressed the lack of “justice and equality in the salary system in Iraq.” He revealed that “the unemployment rate has reached 16.5 percent of the total population in the country.” This is a very high percentage compared to its counterparts in neighboring countries and with a total population of about 40 million people, and the percentage increases to about half if the number of citizens who are able to work out of the total population is taken into consideration.

Battal said, during a press conference held in his ministry, the day before yesterday, on the occasion of the launch of the first labor force survey in Iraq: “Among the important indicators shown by the survey was that the 15-year-old population constitutes about 64 percent of the total population, and males constituted among them. About 50 percent and females 50 percent, which is an equal percentage, the youth group aged 15-24 years constituted 21 percent, and the age group 25 years and over constituted 43 percent of the total population. And Minister Battal returned, yesterday (Wednesday), to point out a defect in the salary system in the public sector, and stressed that “employees in the fifth degree down the line are below the poverty line.”

He pointed out, in statements to local media, that “there is no justice in the revenues and salaries of the government sector, and this is a flaw in the salary system in Iraq, and that the same employees work in ministries with the same degree and qualifications, but the salary and income of some of them is double or more than the weakness of others.” ».

He stressed that «the Economic Council discussed this matter, but it needs a political decision, perhaps for a stable government under stable social conditions, and there is no equality and justice in the Iraqi salary system, and this also indicates a defect in the salary system».

In the eyes of many public sector workers, the issue of the large disparity in the rate of salaries in the government sector is among the biggest “grievances” committed by the post-2003 regime against its citizens. For example, but not limited to, the average salary of an employee with a bachelor’s degree in the three presidencies ( Ministers, the Republic, Parliament, and ministries such as oil, electricity and finance) to about 2 million Iraqi dinars, while its counterpart in the ministries of culture, industry and others gets about 600,000 dinars only, and this is what makes the living gap large, not between the people of the same country, including employees and others, but between employees in the public sector. In the field of work in the private sector, the Minister of Planning said that “some salaries in the private sector are much higher than government income if compared to capabilities and qualifications, but the prevailing social culture and lack of understanding of the Social Security Law push people, including those working in the private sector, to search for a government job. ».

The government of former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had proposed that a unified law on retirement and social security guarantee rewarding retirement salaries for workers in the private sector to encourage work in this sector and not adhere to the concept of employment in the government sector. Noting that employees who receive high wages while serving in the public sector will also receive high pension salaries, unlike their counterparts with low salaries.

In turn, the representative of the International Labor Organization, Maha Sector, confirmed during the force survey conference that “the results of the labor force survey for the year 2021 monitored a decrease in women’s participation.” It called for the development of practical policies, revealing a movement to set a national employment policy and develop the labor market.

Sector said that “the survey is a good start to monitor labor market indicators, in order to build national policies based on evidence, which helps design plans and programs that help the workforce to find decent job opportunities in the labor market.”

She added that “the most important indicators shown by the survey are the decline in women’s participation in the labor force, as women’s participation amounted to about 10.6, compared to 68 percent for men, which is lower than the rates in the world.” She pointed out that the unemployment rate for males reached 14.7, and the rate was doubled for women by about 28.2. To project these percentages on the population, there are about 13 million women of working age in Iraq, of whom work does not exceed one million.