Iraqi unemployment rate reaches 70%

[Tempest]

Iraqi unemployment rate reaches 70%

By Ahmed Janabi

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A66151CB-2105-418B-BFAA-73211A631611.htm

A study by the college of economics at Baghdad University has found that the unemployment rate in Iraq is 70%.

The study says the problem of high unemployment is going from bad to worse, with the security situation deterioriating and the reconstruction process faltering.

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[2Design]

1. they could hire iraqiis and fire halliburton and get rid of the

occupation and hire their own security....and hire their own oil field workers... I think a WPA program in iraq would be great for the country.

[shockingelk]

2. Well, Bremer cut Iraq's taxes

That means fantastic employment numbers are right around the corner. Typical of al-Jazerra not to mention that, huh?

[Tempest]

5. Unfortunately...

Bremer only cut taxes to U.S. companies working in Iraq.

Once Saddam was overthrown, Iraqis weren't paying any taxes.

[shockingelk]

6. dunno, just going off this:

You wouldn't guess from the headline, but on September 15, what U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer did was cut Iraq's top tax rate from 45% to 15% for individuals and businesses. http://www.investmentrarities.com/commyofthemonth01-2004.html

In an interview last week, Bremer maintained that "Iraq has been fundamentally changed for the better" by the occupation. The CPA, he said, has put Iraq on a path toward a democratic government and an open economy after more than three decades of a brutal socialist dictatorship. Among his biggest accomplishments, he said, were the lowering of Iraq's tax rate, the liberalization of foreign-investment laws and the reduction of import duties. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54294-2004Jun19.html

[Halliburton]

3. This is an erroneous report...

It doesn't count the Iraqi's in the insurgency.

[Tempest]

4. LOL!

Now that was funny.

But in all seriousness, would they be considered gainfully employed if their longevity was considered short term?

[POed_Ex_Repub]

7. Ah... GW. Bush, spreading economic goodness wherever he goes. n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. Under Saddam there wasn't an employment problem

Perhaps that's one of the reasons he was the leader for 30 years.

BTW, I never saw anything in the press about the fact that they can't find the 300,000 mass graves, perhaps he sent all the bodies to Syria?

[JSJ]

9. plenty of work for...

...mercenaries and quislings, though.

[Fozzledick]

10. I remember reading before the invasion

that the Iraqi economy was largely socialized and that 70% of the workforce worked for the government.

Then I read about a 70% unemployment rate AFTER the invasion.

Must be another one of _those_ coincidences fnord!

[Tempest]

11. Where ever you got the information, it was wrong

Not even the CIA knew the labor make-up of Iraq.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/iz.html#People

It's highly doubtful the source you read knew more than the CIA.

[Nihil]

13. Think the first figure is wrong ...

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3181248.stm (last year)
the estimate was much lower:

...
The government employs 30% of the workforce, and many of those work for
the inefficient state-owned enterprises, who employ 500,000 (with an
additional one million working directly for the government)
...

Not sure if the above includes the armed forces (which were disbanded
after the "victory") or if it's just the civil service and associated elements.

[truthspeaker]

12. Let's see, millions of angry unemployed men who all own guns

I wonder what will happen next?