Imported Workers in Demand despite Flood of Refugees into Kurdistan

SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Despite the influx of refugees that now total 1.4 million, private firms continue to import foreign laborers, even for menial office jobs or housework.

Haji Karim, an administrator at the Kurdistan Region’s labor ministry, said that many of the refugees desperately need work to support their families, but that employers prefer skilled foreign labor, many now coming from Asian countries.

“As far as we have learned, no Kurdish employer is keen on hiring refugees for work in their companies or homes, even if the costs appear to be much lower,” he said.

According to the latest count about the number of refugees in Kurdistan, taken by the United Nations and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), there are 1.4 million refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Kurdistan Region.

That is a tremendous burden for the autonomous Kurdish enclave, which is comprised of three Iraqi provinces and a local population of five million. In addition, the KRG has been under severe financial strain all this year, since Baghdad stopped making budget payments over an oil row.

Refugees from Syria began arriving following the outbreak of war next door more than three years ago. The UN-KRG count says that 850,000 refugees, most from other parts of Iraq, have poured in since January this year.

“Syrian refugees were among the very first who registered for work,” said Karim. “But so far no employer has shown genuine interest in hiring them.”

Employers say they generally prefer foreign workers over the workforce available locally because the imported laborers have better skills and work ethics. 

“What these foreign workers can do, refugees and domestic laborers are really incapable of doing,” said Nasik Muhammad, a civil servant who hired a foreign maid four years ago.

According to one official assessment in Sulaimani province, in the last seven months 652 foreign laborers have been brought into the province, including 113 women.

Jaza Rashid, who represents a company specialized in importing foreign laborers, said that the influx had slowed somewhat due to the regional upheaval.

“Some have returned to their countries as their contracts expired and some left for holidays and never returned. They (foreign workers) follow the events here with a watchful eye,” Rashid said.

But he added that, despite the ongoing war against the jihadist militants and its impact on the fragile Kurdish economy, there is no shortage of jobs for skilled foreign workers.