Shatha Khalil *
Citizens of the non-oil developing countries live a state of poverty and need, and that is normal, but the ridiculous strange that the Iraqi citizen to live in poverty and at the level of low income, lack of services and the deterioration of infrastructure, and more than a third of its citizens below the poverty line in a country that is one of the rich countries of oil and gas, and various natural resources, being at home two great rivers that are Tigris and Euphrates which bring greater good to provide water for diverse agriculture, and this is an indication of the size of the confusion and financial and administrative corruption that have ravaged the people and the country, in the country which is classified as “oil country”?
The financial and economic expert, Dr. Hammam al-Shamma’a said that is “no longer one of the Iraqis to believe that Iraq, a rich country , in which there is an extreme poverty, where the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is working to help all segments of society, but the weak potential of the country in light of the financial crisis, financial and administrative corruption , low reserves, and the aggravation of expenditures on the war against Daesh, led to the weakness of the potential to address the negatives in the Iraqi society.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is of the old ministries, as it was established by Decree No. 59 of 1939, which had defined the administrative divisions of it, and then issued several regulations under which the divisions of the ministry have been modified such as Order No. 48 of 1941, and the system of the Ministry No. (79) of 1946, and the system No. 38 of 1952, and the system of the Ministry No. 48 of 1959, and directorates were developed in these systems to be annexed to the ministry , which have been expanding continuously in the administrative divisions and functions .
and it includes many of the social care doors for the elderly, the needy, the homeless, blind and orphans, and the ministry is seeking to raise the living standards and minimize damage to all Segments of society that are below the poverty line, but the financial crisis and conditions and the war against terrorism have weakened the reserves of the country, which contributed to the worsening of social crisis.
The ministry adopts three stages to determine the poverty line, the first: the creation of social and economic survey data in Iraq, and the second: Preparation of poverty assessment, analysis of data and social impacts, and the third and final: Preparation a strategy for the poverty alleviation, employment creation and social protection network.
Studies have shown in the social and economic survey for the year 2012, the Muthanna province is among the poorest provinces of Iraq by 52.5%, followed by Qadisiyah 44.1%, and Maysan province by 42.3%.
The illiteracy rate for the 10-year- old group of the poor category is 27.2%, and 16.8% for non – poor category , and these are negative indicators of a country with an ancient civilization and oil and non – oil wealth.
Education, poverty and labor market…
………………………………………….
The poverty is contrary to the education, however poverty does seem to be the crucial factor in the spread of illiteracy so wherever a poverty spreads, , the illiteracy spreads and dropping out of the study, and studies have shown an inverse relationship between the level of income and the level of leakage, the more income decreased, increased the possibility of students dropping out of the education sector.
And if we go back to recent history, we will find that the years of economic sanctions in the nineties of the last century, wiped out the gains have been achieved throughout the decades of seventies and eighties, associated with high literacy and increase the registered rate in the study rates, lower dropout rates, and economic hardship imposed on families to drive children to work to support their families or because education is no longer attractive with low yield of public functions.
Also it has imposed the low enrollment rate at all levels of education, for all ages of 6-23 years by 53%, led to the emergence of illiteracy among young people and women in mid – eighties.
UNESCO figures indicate that the drop -out rates from primary schools have been increased from 95 692 in 1990 to 131 658 in 1999, as a leak 26394 teachers and staff members.
And school buildings suffered a severe shortage either during construction or maintenance, and the reality refers to a severe shortage of schools ‘ needs of furniture, equipment, educational materials and technology, which has led to a large decline in the educational level, and increased unacceptable behavioral problems, poor of education motivation for students and follow – up of their parents, severe weakness in the level of teaching staff.
The high rate of the failure of children 20% is a proof of the poor quality of education, and the trends of literacy took worrying turn , as those rates of the learning for the age group between 15-24 years are lower than in the 25-34 category, despite the apparent expansion in basic education in Iraq over the past thirty years, which is due to the deterioration of the educational system during the era of the siege.
The result that the inability of education system to produce graduates qualified to work , and has failed to give students the skills needed by the public and private sectors , and this is reflected in the quality of workforce and the requirements of economic development in Iraq .
And moved away from strengthening the creative abilities, and the embodiment of that failure in the shapes of high unemployment and underemployment rates.
The data indicate that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been forced to access in the realm of life without adequate education, and without skills appropriate to the needs of the labor market.
As the employment represents a mechanism which translates education to equitable growth , distributed well, and the stoppage of the links between education and employment is wasting significant resources and diminishing returns from education, so the rise in the unemployment rate among those with university degrees reflects the higher education crisis in Iraq, where the quality of education has been in the decline since eighties with the failure of institutions that are governing of the education system for the development of levels of teaching bodies and infrastructure – related to learning and curriculum , or even to maintain the same levels and prevent degradation, and in fact the incentives for the faculty staff and its quality have been deteriorated with the intensification of years of siege and the accompanying waves of the huge inflation and low real wage levels and the lack of investment in the field of training.
Most of the Iraqi workforces were not well-educated, and are incapable of intellectual independence, and were not able to continue learning beyond the traditional boundaries of school education.
The education in Iraq is unable to provide non – academic market skills like (creative thinking, innovation, teamwork, self – confidence, initiative, responsibility, punctuality, the integrity….) So today we are in dire need of the non – traditional methods of teaching to ensure instilling these skills in the early stages of the learning process.
The lack of good skills, means the continuation of human capital backwardness in Iraq, which could be reflected in the construction and reconstruction through the failure to attract foreign investment, and an increase in unemployment, poverty and social tension.
It is incumbent upon the educational system targeting the unemployed as well as other marginalized groups, and therefore must implement programs to retrain workers and rehabilitation of them, and these programs should focus on groups which are at risk of poverty, ie, unskilled workers and women, and groups do not have the skills that enable them to compete in Labor market.
The reasons that have contributed to this deterioration and created an atmosphere of difficult conditions, the lack of security where the terrorism is increasing and straining the security situation in the country.
This decline was no confined only on the economic and security aspects of the country, but it included the scientific side as well noting that since many years , we note the decline in the level of academic student, after the Organization of UNESCO testified that Iraq before the 1991 Gulf War has an education system that is one of the best education systems in the region , but the situation began to deteriorate rapidly due to several wars in addition to the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq.
Among the most prominent reflections of poverty on society is the widespread of the manifestations of corruption and deepen it in societies where the need may drive the individual to resort to illegal methods in order to secure a living, and the spread of financial and administrative corruption crimes in the state institutions.
Economic impact of poverty:
………………………………
Poverty in Iraq is a dangerous phenomenon that has emerged in the nineties as a result of wars and destruction, which Iraq suffered in the Iraq –Iran war , which burdened the state ‘s budget for military spending , by allocating most of the budget for the defense and the purchase of weapons and military equipment, then followed by years of economic blockade, which imposed on Iraq after the Kuwait war, as the percentage of the population living below the poverty line amounted 70% of Iraq ‘s population.
After 2003, when the war and the US occupation were taken place, and the sectarian conflicts and forced displacement, which lasted for years and still exist, manifestations of poverty are spread dramatically, such as illiteracy, malnutrition and high rates of unemployment, the low incomes of individuals and the emergence of slums.
The Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs works to improve the level of the citizen, as Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs said at a press meeting on 01.03.2017, that the ministry has started since 2015 the implementation of surveys for the registration of eligible ones, as it is a single item of the items of social protection law.
al-Sudani added the ministry is sending the survey results to the Ministry of Planning , which analyzes the data and sends its findings to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, as those who are above the poverty line has been excluded from them , and new surveys included 93,000 thousand citizens who have got for the first time on social subsidy .
al-Sudani stressed that the social subsidy depends on family income, not the individual income because it is the most accurate international standards, which is based on the accurate system analysis (sources of alternative income), to achieve efficient and accurate knowledge of the number of poor, noting that it has been shown in Diyala province the presence of contractors and jewelers who are paid service salaries, as it has been excluded 16,000 thousand people and their salaries were cut off.
The new strategy of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs:
………………………………………………………………….
Among the most important pillars of the new strategy of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as al-Sudani say:
1. Every citizen deserves social welfare will receive it under the decision.
2.The permanent Iraqi constitution of 2005 gives great importance to network of protection and social security, as provided for 3 of its articles (22, 29 and 30) that the State take responsibility in the care of the poor segments so as to ensure for these segments all the elements of a decent life.
3. Poverty today is the serious global phenomena that cannot be eliminated. Studies indicate that half of the world’s population live below the poverty line at present and the most important causes of poverty that have been diagnosed are family size, conflicts , crises, poor distribution of wealth, low level of education , unemployment, corruption and bureaucracy.
4. The control of the terrorist organization Daesh in 2014 on some Iraqi provinces which was a key reason for the failure to achieve the goals set by the strategy of poverty alleviation and development launched by the Iraqi government in 2009.
5. “Social Protection Agency” that is set in 2014 on the poverty line criteria as a basis in determining the target groups to enter under the umbrella of social protection rather than categorical targeting, which was adopted in previous laws, which caused at the time to weaken the program and disbursement of state funds to non-deserved destinations and supportive bodies for terrorism.
6. Among the most important programs adopted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which will contribute to breaking the cycle of transmission of poverty , is the program of ” conditional cash payments “, which requires registration of children under eighteen years in schools and a commitment to go to the health centers, which are the main requirement for such payments, and assistance program of access to the labor market by vocational training and providing loans that help to open small businesses.
7. The processes of social research carried out by the Social Protection Agency through trained researchers and scientific methodology and standards, contribute to strengthen the relationship with the citizen and to be fair with the poorest families in addition to the disclosure of beneficiaries of non- deserved ones for the salaries of social protection.
8. The information technology constitutes an important joint in the work of the social protection body , it is currently relying on the electronic registration forms ( the body received million applications in just 35 days) in addition to the preparation of unified database related to the social safety nets , and scheduled to be linked to a database of national card record.
9. The strategic road map prepared by the Ministry of Labor in cooperation with the World Bank includes three basic pillars that are relied upon in the application of the social protection system and these pillars are: social safety nets, social insurance, labor market policies.
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs stressed on the recommendations that will reduce poverty risks and its adverse repercussions on the Iraqi society, including:
1. Avoid distribution that does not target the resources of support provided by the State such as the ration card and grants, because this type of distribution reduces the financial allocations that reach effectively to the poor.
2. The expansion of specialization in more functional degrees to the ministry, in order to provide sufficient numbers of social workers, it is planned that the social protection body covering more than one million of family beneficiaries and this number requires to offer of 4000 trained social researcher .
3. Increase the awareness of guided media to citizens to define the objectives of social protection and the role played by the body programs to provide a decent life for all the Iraqi people.
4. To guide the State institutions to the adoption in its appointments on the database of the unemployed from the work provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
5. Implementation of government partnership phase with the private sector in time to be part of the strategy that was developed in 2014 to activate this sector and enable it to take its real role in the Iraqi market.
6. Update the curricula established in the Iraqi universities and institutes, including to qualify the graduates to engage in the labor market directly and reduce the rate of unemployment in the society.
7. Increase the rate of contributions determined on employers in the pension and security fund in the payment of 12% of the wage of the worker in accordance with the law of retirement and social security.
Unit of Economic Studies
Translated by: Mudhaffar al-Kusairi
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies