ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Tuesday called on employers to increase the recruitment of locals, with Prime Minister Masrour Barzani saying the youth should be helped to have employment opportunities. The Council of Ministers on Tuesday held its weekly meeting, discussing a range of subjects, including employment opportunities in the private sector. “The Council discussed work force organization and means of providing employment opportunities in the private sector in a just and equitable way that increases local employment,” read a statement from the KRG. In 2018, the unemployment rate was nine percent, according to data from the Kurdistan Region’s Statistics Office. With the arrival of the coronavirus in 2020 and a harsh economic situation caused by a drop in oil prices, many people in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq were driven into poverty and unemployment. The KRG has largely suspended the public employment process since 2014 when the Islamic State (ISIS) controlled swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land. Locals have complained about the employment of many foreign workers in the private sector. PM Barzani was quoted in the statement as saying that it is the “cornerstone” of his cabinet’s reform agenda to help the youth have job opportunities. The KRG “encourages employers to increase employment of locals in line with the government decree that at least 70 percent of the labor force should be local,” read the statement.
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