Fighting Unemployment in Oman and Iraq: The Way Forward

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." -- Albert Einstein

"It always seems impossible until it's done"-- Nelson Mandela

“I don’t know what word in the English Language—I can’t find one—that applies to people who are willing to sacrifice the literal existence of organized human life so they can put a few more dollars into highly overstuffed pockets. The word ‘evil’ doesn’t begin to approach it.” --- Noam Chomsky

"Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them."?-- Henry Ford

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Introduction

There have been sharp increases in the unemployment rate in both Oman and Iraq although they are very rich in oil, natural resources, and educated human workforce. Behind these sharp increases is a very simple fact: government officials, business leaders and almost everyone else in charge of employment and unemployment do not tackle the root causes of unemployment for a variety of reasons: corruption, hypocrisy, exploitation, incompetence, greed, stupidity, dishonesty, fear, and repression.

Researchers, academics, and so-called economists and "specialists" give us figures, statistics, and charts that deal with numbers and superficial descriptive data that hardly touch the heart of the problem. They avoid the root causes either because they are incapable of dealing with them for fear, hypocrisy, and incompetence or because they are being paid to say what the governments and corrupt businessmen want them to say.

The governments and the others always talk about the budget that does not allow them to allocate sufficient funds for employment. This is the most disgusting excuse we have been hearing for a long time. It is also a nasty lie. The budget in Oman has been calculated at 50 dollars per a barrel of oil; the budget in Iraq has been calculated at 70 dollars per a barrel of oil. The price of oil has been well above $70 per a barrel for most of the time and both governments boast of huge financial surpluses. So the price of oil is not a good excuse. So where are the financial surpluses?

The other important point about the budget is: Who puts the budget? Is it not the government who puts the budget and specifies everything in it? If you do not allocate funds in the budget for job vacancies and for fighting unemployment, then how do you intend to reduce or eliminate unemployment in the country? The answer is bitter and stupid. In both Oman and Iraq, the government wants the private sector to solve the problem of unemployment. They always talk about jobs in the private sector. It is true that the private sector should take a share of responsibility for unemployment and should take a share of the solution but the private sector is not running the country; it is the government that runs the country. It is, therefore, legally and morally responsible for what is happening in the country, especially with unemployment.

There are many misconceptions about unemployment, especially regarding investments. We have been hearing a lot of noise in both Oman and Iraq about encouraging investments in order to solve unemployment. But what sorts of investments are you talking about? ?Investments in luxury hotels, hospitals, and other facilities that the jobless and the poor cannot afford do not solve the problem. Such investments are making the problem worse: The gap between "the have and have not" is widening: The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

We cannot solve the problem of unemployment by adopting the same thinking and factors that have created the problem in the first place. This is why we have a "vicious circle" in both Oman and Iraq for solving the problem of unemployment. Unless we are honest with ourselves and adopt new procedures and strategies, both economic and social, to tackle unemployment, the problem will get bigger in intensity and will result in devastating economic chaos and social unrest.

Unemployment in Oman

Oman's Unemployment Rate increased to 4.90% in Jul 2024, from the previously reported figure of 3.60% in Jun 2024.

Oman Unemployment Rate is updated monthly, available from Mar 2018 to Jul 2024, with an average rate of 2.70%.

The data reached an all-time high of 5.00% in Feb 2023 and a record low of 1.70% in Sep 2022.

The data is reported by CEIC Data.

?In the latest reports, Oman's Population reached 4.48 million people in Jun 2020.

Unemployment among youth in Oman is a growing problem. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), Oman’s unemployment rate decreased from five percent in February to 4.10 percent in March this year.

The figures, however, are skewed in favor of men. The rate of female jobseekers remains high at 13.7 percent, compared to 1.7 percent for males. Bachelor’s degree holders form the largest group of jobseekers, accounting for 11.3 percent.

The Ministry of Labour in Oman reported that by the end of March 2023, there were 110,000 registered jobseekers, marking a significant increase from the previous quarter’s 85,000. (1).

Only a very tiny minority of Omanis do not care about unemployment. These are the hypocrites who have guaranteed jobs in the public sector or the private sector. This category includes most, if not all, government officials, their family members, their relatives, and those associated with them directly or indirectly. The category includes also corrupt businessmen who care about accumulating illegitimate wealth at the expense of their fellow citizens and the national development and stability. These corrupt, selfish businessmen think that they are too powerful and too influential to be controlled or defeated. These corrupt people are themselves members of the Government, the powerful Sheikhs, the rich businessmen, and the top officials in the ministries.

However, the majority of Omanis are against unemployment and corruption. They strongly believe that unemployment caused by corruption is threatening their future and eating up their national budget and resources. They try to correct the situation peacefully in a reasonable way in order to avoid having problems with the Government or with the public prosecutors who are among the most corrupt and ruthless prosecutors in the Middle East and the world. There are also many repressive articles like Article 16 of the Oman Penal Code. This article is greatly abused by judges and public prosecutors. The article talks about “privacy” and personal information and photos, but the prosecutors and judges usually interpret it as referring to anyone protesting against or writing about unemployment and corruption.

When the Arab Spring started in 2011, Oman had a small share. A significant number of Omanis started to demonstrate against unemployment and corruption. They gathered in public parks and places demanding an end to unemployment, corruption, and the removal and punishment of corrupt officials and businessmen. Sultan Qaboos bin Seed, the late Sultan of Oman, was very wise and understanding. He did not use violence or ruthless measures against the demonstrators as was the case in most Arab countries. The demonstrators themselves did very little violence and burning of property.

The students, and some teachers, in many Omani universities and colleges joined the protests. This included the Rustaq College of Education. The students stormed the offices of the Dean and his Academic Assistant. They forced the Dean,?Mustafa Abdul Baqui,?to resign, put him in his car, and sent him to Said Al Rubaii in the Ministry. The Academic Assistant Dean,?Mr. B.B. (known as Mr. Baby),?escaped from the back gate of the College. Then we heard that some other students blocked the roads of Al Suwaiq, where?Said Al?Rubaii?lived, and when they saw him coming, they attacked him, pulled him out of his car, and severely beat him up! This indicates how angry and frustrated the Omani students were with their top officials of higher education who are contributing to the increase of unemployment and poverty by offering the students worthless degrees and certificates.

"Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed has taken several decisions that satisfied the demands raised by the activists but they are demanding more reforms, including freedom of speech and freedom of the media.

The Omani monarch raised minimum wages for Omani citizens in the private sector, raised pensions for retired civil service employees, ordered the creation of 50,000 jobs for Omani nationals, and also sanctioned 150 Omani riyals as the unemployment allowance besides making a series of changes.

He also reshuffled the Council of Ministers, picking more than half a dozen new ministers who were elected representatives of the people of Oman.

He created an independent audit bureau and also gave legislative and regulatory powers to the country's only body that had members elected by the people of Oman.

Sultan Qaboos also pledged to create 50,000 government jobs and increase unemployment benefits.

In March 2011, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stepped in to help Oman and Bahrain with a $20 billion stimulus package similar to the United States’ post-second world war Marshall Plan for Western Europe." (2).

"Based on these complaints, the Public Prosecution ordered a crackdown by competent authorities. "We have asked competent authorities to arrest those disturbing the public order with their acts and bring them to justice," the statement by the Public Prosecutor said.

"All citizens should cooperate and should not hesitate to inform competent authorities about any actions that disturb security and order," the statement said.

About a dozen Omani citizens staged demonstrations in front of the US embassy for over an hour, asking the US government to intervene and stop security crackdown."(3).

Financial market analysis firm?BMI Research’s latest country risk report on Oman pointed to unemployment as one of the chief threats facing the Sultanate.?

The report said the biggest weakness in Oman’s short-term political profile is the possibility that frustration at a lack of improvement in living standards for the country’s relatively young population could lead to renewed protests against the government.?

"Oman may experience a sharp rise in unemployment among its citizens this year, as employers in the private sector prefer to offer jobs to expatriates to save money.

Official statistics show that the number of unemployed citizens in the first quarter of this year rose by 26 percent compared with the same quarter last year to 56,000.

Around 34,000 Omani job seekers have bachelor’s degrees, around 22,000 hold secondary school diplomas and the rest failed to complete their school education. The figures are not broken down by gender.

In 2021 Oman’s Sultan Haitham ordered a grant of 200 rials ($500) a month to the private sector for every Omani job seeker employed during the first year of employment, as an incentive for companies to take on local graduates.

But three years later, that has not made any difference. Employers in the private sector say that Omani graduates demand twice the amount expatriates accept.

So it is still attractive for the private sector to keep hiring expatriates in office jobs, retail, sales, marketing, accounts, or even in technical jobs such as engineering or information technology. But young Omanis prefer cushy and highly paid jobs in the public sector, shying away from lower-paid vacancies in private companies." (4).

From time to time and in scenes reminiscent of the protests that shook Oman in 2011, hundreds of unemployed Omanis demonstrate in many Omani cities, leading officials to reiterate pledges to create thousands of jobs.?

On May 23rd, 2021 protests sparked across major urban areas in Oman to express discontent with the current unemployment crisis. Predominantly peaceful demonstrators were met with police violence, tear gas, and unlawful arrests in many cities.? According to local civil rights groups, police arrested civilians, confiscated their phones, and sent them to unknown detention centers. Further, the government asked national media outlets to withhold information about the protests and government crackdowns.

After reports that Omani police violated demonstrators’ civil liberties, the Gulf Center for Human Rights and the Omani Association for Human Rights announced that “the Omani government should immediately end the policy of silencing and restricting public freedoms, including freedom of peaceful protest and freedom of the press. ?(5)

According to the Al Jazeera English website, young people in Oman took to the streets in cities across the Sultanate to protest a lack of jobs and economic opportunities.

The unrest fell just weeks after the government, led by Oman’s new ruler, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, introduced a 5 percent value-added tax (VAT) as part of a long-delayed fiscal reform package that included other cuts to state spending and plans to introduce an income tax.

Demonstrations over economic grievances in Oman have occurred sporadically since the 2011 Arab Spring. The country’s previous ruler, the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, managed to quell protesters by offering them generous state handouts.

The new sultan responded to events in May in a similar fashion, promising nearly 15,000 public-sector jobs and another 15,000 jobs in the private sector to be funded by a $500 government stipend.

Although petroleum industries accounted for more than 34 percent of the Sultanate's GDP in 2019 and made up nearly 65 percent of its total exports a year earlier, according to the World Bank, Oman’s undersecretary of state for oil and gas said in a 2019 interview that the sector only employed less than 15,000 Omanis in 2018. (6)

Crowds often gather outside of the Ministry of Manpower in Muscat, chanting: “We want jobs.” Such protests are a clear indicator that Omani unemployed citizens are looking for more than just rhetoric.?

The government’s biggest challenge remains that it is hard to convince its citizens to accept jobs in the private sector. The starting salary for graduates in the civil service is 900 rials ($2,500) a month. Working hours are only from 7.30 am to 2.30 pm and then they have the rest of the afternoon off.

Meanwhile, in the private sector, the working day typically runs from 8 am to 5 pm with pay of around 600 rials ($1,500) a month. Less pay and longer working hours are not something young Omani graduates are very keen on and that allows expatriates to fill the vacancies they leave.

With the private sector greedy to exploit expatriates for jobs unwanted by Omani graduates because of lower pay and longer working hours, many feel that the deadlock will continue. It is a deadlock that currently has no solution except for the Omani Government to sincerely fight the root causes of unemployment and the greed of many corrupt and selfish officials and businessmen in both the public and private sectors.

Oman is a country of just five million, with expats accounting for more than 38 percent of the population. Filling the roughly 80 percent of jobs held by foreigners in the private sector is critical to the government’s economic transformation plans.

There is little coverage of unemployment and corruption in Oman, with domestic media shackled by censorship and international outlets more concerned with the country’s geostrategic importance - it neighbors Saudi Arabia and Iran and borders the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil supply route. But media silence has not shielded Oman from the wider reverberations that may rock the Middle East again in another Arab Spring. ?

Unemployment in Iraq

Unemployment rates in Iraq continued to rise after 2003, according to the results of the Employment and Unemployment Survey in Iraq issued by the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation. The unemployment rate among the economically active population reached 28.1% in 2003, then decreased to 18% in 2005, and then continued to decline in 2006, 2008, and 2009, with unemployment rates reaching 17.5%, 15.3%, and 15%, respectively. This is because many of the unemployed are included in state institutions, the army, the police, and so on. (7)

Unemployment rates rose to 12% in 2010, 12.8% in 2014, and 13.2% in 2015. After that, the rates decreased to 10.8% in 2016. These data are not considered a true expression of the Iraqi reality, as these data reflect Government political vision statements. As the unemployment rate ranged between 50% - 60% in 2016. (8)

The unemployment problem in Iraq has worsened to become a devastating crisis. Successive governments have been unable to find reasonable solutions that may reduce the negative effects of this crisis or eliminate it because of faulty economic policies, wars, and international economic sanctions imposed since 1991. (9)

Multiple factors led to rising unemployment rates, including high population growth rates, inconsistency between the requirements of the labor market and the skills achieved from the outputs of the educational system, and the worsening of the structural imbalances that the Iraqi economy suffers from, as a result of its dependence on the oil sector to generate GDP. This led to an increase in unemployment rates in a way that Iraq had not been familiar with, at least since 1972. (10)

"The General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) in Iraq raised the unemployment issue in the country, with the number of those unemployed growing annually, without any solutions. They stressed that the numbers reached 6 million unemployed individuals, amid calls for the government and the concerned authorities to take responsibility for the issue.

The unemployment issue in Iraq is one of the most prominent files that have witnessed an escalation, especially in recent years, and most of the unemployed are university graduates who hold higher education degrees. Despite the promises made by successive governments to find solutions to this issue, including providing job opportunities and government appointments to reduce unemployment rates, it is to no avail.

According to the Chairman of the GFTU, Sattar Danbous Barrak, “There are 6 million unemployed people in Iraq, and this issue does not have any government solutions”, noting in a statement to the official Iraqi news channel “the unemployment crisis in the country is worsening. (11).

According to the Shafaq News Agency, hundreds of thousands of graduates from universities and colleges in Iraq each year join the job market. Regrettably, the 2024 budget does not have any allocation of funds for jobs in the public sector.

Unemployment is worse for women, who have twice the rate of men, and it is higher in rural areas compared to cities, as highlighted by the Ministry of Planning spokesperson Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi.

While male unemployment hovers around 12 to 13%, female unemployment surpasses 20%.

Speaking to Shafaq News Agency, Al-Hindawi explained the government's employment strategy, stating that it cannot hire more in state institutions.

"The government can no longer increase employment within state institutions. The current focus is on developing the private sector, which requires a series of measures, legislation, regulations, and laws to govern its operations," said Al-Hindawi." (12).

"Estimates of unemployment rates in Iraq have varied in previous years. However, according to recent statistics issued by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and in cooperation with the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the unemployment rate among the population has reached (16.5%) year (2021), which means that one in five persons is unemployed and, on the other hand, the male unemployment rate is 14.7% compared to 28.2% among women." (13).

The turnaround in oil markets has significantly improved Iraq’s economic outlook in the medium term. Overall growth in 2022 is now forecast at 8.9% as OPEC+ quotas end, and Iraq’s production surpasses its pre?pandemic level of 4.6 million barrels per day. Growth is projected to remain modest at 3.7% on average as oil production moderates. Non?oil GDP growth is projected to converge to its long?term potential growth trend. Higher projected oil prices in 2022–2024 are forecast to keep Iraq’s fiscal and external balances in surplus. (14).

According to a UN report, Iraq's double-digit unemployment rate, especially among young men, could undermine long-term security and social stability.

Iraq's unemployment rate stands at 18 percent while an additional 10 percent of the labour force is part-time, but keen to work longer hours, the report found.

Unemployment is concentrated among young men, with 28 percent between 15 and 29 years of age unemployed, while only 17 percent of women have jobs, a low rate compared with neighboring countries.

"Iraq's growing jobless population is a socio-economic challenge for a country in transition. This unemployed or disenchanted pool of young men and women is critical to Iraq's future socio-economic health," it said.

"Data shows that women without a university education are more likely to be unemployed or not seeking a job. Only 30 percent of working-age women with a secondary education participate in the labour force and this figure drops to 10 percent for those with just a primary education." (15)

Root Causes

There are many root causes for the high rates of unemployment in both Oman and Iraq. The following are some of them:

Work Experience: A Slavery Tool

Job hunting for fresh graduates of colleges and universities is overwhelming and frustrating because relevant work experience remains a primary requirement for most employers although it is illogical and very unfair to demand work experience from students who have just graduated from colleges and universities.

The paradox of the job market is that "you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job.” Employers and recruiters are continually demanding work experience even on low entry-level jobs. It is obvious that applicants with previous work experience are given preference since they require minimum training and yield low hiring costs even though they may not be good employees and fresh graduates may be a great deal better than them.

Work experience for fresh graduates is a fabricated problem and a true slavery tool. ?It has been fabricated by corrupt people, bad firms, incompetent managers, and evil employers like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri who have exploited this problem to enslave fresh graduates and take bribes in order to offer them jobs with meager wages and salaries.

Work experience for fresh graduates has been used as an ugly slavery tool whereby fresh graduates are asked by some companies and “educational authorities” to work for free in order to get work experience. In many cases, this “unpaid employment” may last several years, especially in schools, and they are still not offered permanent paid jobs. This is modern-day slavery in every sense of the term.

Work experience for fresh graduates can be solved very easily by firms, colleges, universities, and other employers if they just devise a training program aimed at recruiting fresh graduates for a year or two at a reasonable percentage of the ordinary salary given to the job they are trained for, let us say 50%. This half salary is to cover the daily expenses of the fresh graduates while being in the training program and also to work out as a motivational tool for the fresh graduates to continue their training instead of dropping out and taking up other jobs with immediate pay due to financial difficulties.

We always hear and listen to experts, ministers, officials, and wealthy businessmen talking about the economy, the big investments, and the job markets. They offer advice and boast of investment projects that will bring about thousands and thousands of jobs to the community and the country but nothing really happens to change the situation because these experts and other prominent figures in the society do not need to worry about jobs for their sons, daughters, and relatives who are fresh graduates. They can find jobs for them so easily through the?“Wastta”?(personal favors) or in exchange for “you appoint my son and daughter” and “I will appoint your son and daughter”, especially in the Middle East where the ministers, the members of parliament, wealthy businessmen, and corrupt officials are above the law and all regulations and work experience requirements. Have you ever heard of a minister’s or an official’s son or daughter who does not have a job whether he or she is a fresh graduate or an old graduate, or is not a graduate at all? Only the fresh graduates who are from the poor and middle classes pay a heavy price to get work experience and may never get it; so they join the other unemployed millions or take up manual or trivial jobs that have nothing to do with their specializations, just to survive and feed their poor families.

This is a bleak picture, but it is the reality of the job markets for fresh graduates in many countries in the Middle East, including Oman and Iraq. This is why we see thousands and thousands of fresh graduates demonstrate asking for their human rights including the simple right of getting a job to be free from need, hunger, and slavery. They have spent years and years of their lives studying and taking tedious and endless tests and exams and then they are now confronted, after graduation, by evil and corrupt employers with this disgusting requirement of work experience that serves no purpose except being a tool of modern-day slavery.

For more information and insights, read my article:" Work Experience for Fresh Graduates: A Slavery Tool" (LinkedIn, March 16, 2021)

Corruption

Despite the political, cultural, and economic differences between Iraq and Oman, both countries are regarded as corrupt countries as per the Corruption Perception Indexes of Transparency International, especially the index of 2023.

Both Iraq and Oman need effective institutions, government agencies, and organizations well-staffed and well-equipped to fight corruption. They should work with freedom and independence:

“Without strong watchdog institutions, impunity becomes the very foundation upon which systems of corruption are built. And if impunity is not demolished, all efforts to bring an end to corruption are in vain. “—?Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Prize Laureate.

Like many other countries in the world and the Middle East, they also need to join the global fight against corruption as there are some very powerful corrupt people in both countries and local investigation of their corruption will lead nowhere.

There is rampant corruption, incompetence, negligence, and dereliction of duty by many top and senior officials in both countries. These corrupt top officials, senior managers, and rogue businessmen care only about their corruption, and their selfish personal gains even if the country is going to hell. This is the real tragedy for Iraq and Oman and many other countries in the Middle East.

The real story is that the whole system in both countries is deeply corrupted and rotten. Governments come and go without the slightest attempt to change the system which has always been the main cause of the problems.?They do the same things over and over again and they want to get different results!?This is utter nonsense and absolute stupidity.

An effective way to fight corruption in any country is to sincerely join the global fight against corruption and to join the anti-corruption international organizations.?There must be a U.N. Anti-Corruption Commission fighting corruption in the country. To object to the existence and the work of such a commission citing excuses of “national sovereignty” and “interference in internal affairs” means that corruption will stay forever in the country and will never be eradicated. On the contrary, corrupt people will get stronger, more powerful, and more influential.

There are many requirements and procedures that Iraq and Oman should undertake in order to join the global fight against corruption. We will briefly touch on some of these requirements here.?(For more information and insights, read my article,?“Why Does Corruption Persist in the Middle East? Implications for Businesses and Higher Education Institutions”,?published on LinkedIn on October 13, 2019)

? Anti-Corruption Watchdogs

We cannot fight corruption anywhere in the world unless there are independent Anti-Corruption Watchdogs together with a strong U.N. Anti-Corruption Commission inside the country. This Commission must be directly under the supervision of the U.N. and not the government of that country. The Commission should coordinate its work with the national Anti-Corruption Agencies and the government of the country in the fight against corruption. Without effective and independent anti-corruption commissions and agencies, corruption will never be rooted in countries like Iraq, Oman, Lebanon, or other countries with a very high level of corruption.

In most of the countries of the Middle East, there are no independent agencies or non-governmental organizations to which you can report corruption without fear of retaliation from corrupt people. All the existing agencies and organizations are formed by the governments and supervised by them. They are there not to sincerely fight corruption but just to report those who may criticize the governments or the top officials. The public does not have trust in the anti-corruption commissions or agencies widely publicized by the governments and local newspapers because they know these commissions and agencies are really traps to catch anyone who challenges the status quo or they are there just as a formality to persuade the public and international investors that the government is really serious in its fight against corruption.

?Accountability

Everyone, including the top and senior officials in the government and the private sector, should be held to account for what they do outside of the law; no one should be above the law. In order to implement this requirement, we need honest and courageous prosecutors and judiciary who are really independent and do not yield to the pressures of politicians, Sheikhs, and government officials.

Corruption persists in countries like Oman and Iraq because corrupt people are generally “protected” by public prosecutors who fear them and never dare to investigate their corruption, fraud, and thievery. Corrupt officials and senior executives can do whatever they like and can steal money in different ways from the public sector or the private sector companies and institutions without being held accountable to anyone. They control almost everything in their companies and organizations as they control the two most important functions: administration and finance. They also control, to a surprising degree, the public prosecutors everywhere in the country. These prosecutors would turn against anyone who submits any corruption documents or tries to file complaints against corrupt figures in the public or private sector. When I reported the corruption of Abood Al-Sawafi (former VC of A’Sharqiyah University) to?Saif Al-Saltti, the Deputy Public Prosecutor in Ibra, Oman, he shamelessly said to me, “I am not concerned about the corruption of Abood Al-Sawafi; I am concerned about whether Abood Al-Sawafi has been insulted or not.” Imagine that! Can we really fight corruption in Oman or Lebanon or any other country with such a corrupt public prosecutor like?Saif Al-Saltti?!

The judiciary plays a great role in the fight against corruption. If the judiciary themselves are corrupt or indifferent, then any fight against corruption will be in vain.

Judges are human beings and most have families. They are mostly appointed by the governments as civil servants. They depend upon their work as judges for a living. So they are under enormous pressure from many sides to pass the judgments in favor of the government officials or influential people.?Many of these judges are timid and many are scared to death to lose their jobs and be sacked by the government. Some are even afraid of being assassinated or murdered by some powerful corrupt politicians.

? Transparency

Governments, companies, and organizations should be transparent and report all their dealings and transactions to the relevant authorities in the country. To hide vital information from these authorities and the public citing the outdated concept of “confidentiality” is a rotten, crooked way for corruption.

The concept of?“confidential information”?must be limited to the information that is within the law and is kept secret for the common interests of the organization, the public in general, and the safety and security of the country and the world. When a bank, a company, an organization, or a boss uses this “confidential information” for illegal purposes, corruption, fraud, and thievery, then the employee or citizen has no obligation, legal or moral, to keep silent and allow the abuse of the “confidential information” for evil purposes. It is illegal and immoral to abuse any information, confidential or otherwise, to steal from the government or a company hurt innocent people, and inflict damages on other organizations or other nations.

Corrupt officials and businessmen like?Abood Al-Sawafi, Hamed Al-Hajri, Mohammed Al-Barashdi, and Saeed Al-Rubaii?have always used the concept of “confidential information” to suppress their employees and hide their corruption from the public, the Ministry of Higher Education, and the anti-corrupt agencies in Oman. They follow a very brutal and detestable approach. They constantly issue orders and directives to the teachers and members of staff preventing them from talking about anything related to performance, irregularities, or suspicions of corruption anywhere in the University. If anybody dares to ask a question or raise an intelligent or a stupid point, he will be silenced immediately and will lose his job or will be referred to the Police and the Public Prosecution in Ibra accusing him of leaking “confidential information”. So, for Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamad Al-Hajri, Mohammed Al-Barashdi, and Saeed Al-Rubaii any information related to their corruption is “confidential” and no one is allowed in any way to talk about it or report it to the Board of Directors or the Board of Trustees or to any official anti-corruption agency.

Corruption has always been an epidemic in most developing countries of the world, including Oman and Iraq, and has always been a major source of unrest, troubles, and violent demonstrations. Regrettably, many governments and anti-corruption agencies are not doing enough to combat corruption either because they are unwilling or unable to do so or because ministers, or at least some of them, and the officials making up and supervising the governments are themselves corrupt and protected by the privileges of their positions in the governments.

It is also noticeable that many corrupt officials get rewards and promotions instead of being held to account for their corruption, fraud, abuse of power, and thievery. This, naturally, encourages other officials to be corrupt and big thieves because there is implicit impunity against corruption, which runs against the officially announced policies of the governments. This is certainly hypocrisy and complicity in the fight against unemployment and corruption.

The fight against corruption in both Iraq and Oman is very weak and limited either because the Governments are not willing to engage in big fights against powerful and influential people like?Abdallah Al-Harthi, Said Al Rubaii, Abood Al-Sawafi, and Hamed Al-Hajri, or because of the absence of brave people and agencies who are well-equipped and well-prepared to fight corruption until the bitter end. This is one of the main reasons why corruption persists in these two countries, and unfortunately, it will continue for some time. It is also one of the reasons for the failure of Oman Vision 2020 and the very likely failure of Oman Vision 2040.

Corruption plays a very negative role in the fight against unemployment as corrupt officials and businessmen people prefer to offer jobs to the members of their families, their friends, and their relatives. The others have to pay bribes to them to be considered for jobs or to be given jobs or work contracts. This has been a familiar practice for corrupt officials and businessmen in the public and private sectors in Oman and Iraq.

Applicants who do not pay bribes or who do not have "Wastta" (favors with the officials) are hardly considered for jobs. The public announcements for jobs, the application forms, the interviews, and the exams for jobs are all mere formalities intended to deceive the applicants and the relevant authorities and make them believe there is a system for jobs whereas everything is corrupt from top to bottom in both the public and private sectors.

Exploitation

There are millions and millions of expatriate workers in the Middle East, especially in the GCC countries. They make up more than 80% of the workforce in most countries, and sometimes this percentage goes up to 90%.

To escape poverty and support their families back home, millions of expatriate workers from mainly India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines migrate to the oil-rich countries in the Middle East to work hoping they will be treated as human beings in these new countries.

You find expatriate workers in both the public and private sectors. They contribute in a very significant way to the economic and cultural development of the Middle East but unfortunately, they are deprived of their basic human rights and are treated like “slaves” in every sense of the word.

It is really very unfair then to look down on expatriate workers and pay them wages and salaries far below those of their national colleagues in many companies and institutions. Most of the time, they are spoken to rudely by bad supervisors, bosses, and top executives. They are not treated with appropriate dignity and respect even in universities. Most of them feel they are treated as being "invisible" and are deprived of their basic human rights. They are subjected to exploitation and abuse and live in abject poverty; nothing short of modern-day slavery.

These expatriate workers feel powerless and unable to report the exploitation, abuse, ill-treatment, and slavery practices being subjected to by merciless employers like Abood Al-Sawafi, Hamed Al-Hajri, Mohammed Al-Barashdi, and Saeed Al-Rubaii in the higher education sector in Oman for fear of losing their jobs or going to jail. They are dying in silence.

Slavery is illegal in almost all the countries of the Middle East though we should realize that laws and regulations in these countries are mostly “ink on paper”.

Most of the workers in the Gulf countries, especially in Oman, are Indian teachers working and contributing, in a very significant way, to the development of these countries. Many, many business people, companies, and private educational institutions exploit them and treat them as “cheap labor” though the Oman Labor Law strongly prohibits this exploitation. The Indians get salaries far lower than the others in colleges and universities! This is very unfair. An Indian with an Indian passport gets less money than an Indian with a Canadian passport even if the first one speaks in a more comprehensible accent and has more qualifications than the second. You can visit any college or university and see for yourself. But this has never changed my first picture nor will it change it in the future. Indians are like any other nationality and they deserve salaries and wages as the others when they have the same qualifications and experiences and perform the same job. So when I was asked to recruit teachers for the Foundation Program five years ago, I insisted on giving the Indian teachers the same salaries and benefits as the Western or Western-educated teachers with the same credentials. I negotiated with the university a scale of salaries which is still regarded as one of the best scales in Oman. Then came the second shock. Being a greedy and incompetent person, the VC decided to significantly reduce the salary scale for the new teachers. Most of the new recruits we got on the new reduced scale were Indians! The others have refused to come.

I wrote an article titled," "Are Indians Cheap Labor? Who is to blame? Expatriate Indian Teachers in Higher Education" (LinkedIn, October 1, 2015) without mentioning the name of A'Sharqiyah University. I was just suggesting that Indian teachers should be treated fairly and equally with other teachers of different nationalities and should be given the same salaries and employment packages as this will motivate them and will make them work harder like their colleagues.

I was shocked to hear that Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri handed a copy of my article to the Police Department in Ibra to be used against me, accusing me of inciting the Indians in Oman to make a revolution against the government! Have you ever heard of such nonsense anywhere in the world? What has the article got to do with any revolution? It was just an article about fair salaries for teachers of all nationalities including Indian teachers; so what has the article got to do with the Police and Public Prosecution? Is this how the universities in the world treat and deal with their teachers and professors and their constructive articles and suggestions?

The number of working hours in the public sector in Oman and Iraq is normally?6 hours per day, usually from 8 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. In some public offices and institutions like colleges and universities, working hours are extended to 4 p.m., that is, the number of working hours is 8 hours. This is also the number of working hours in the private sector. The employees are financially compensated for these extended two hours. The number of workdays is only 5 (Sunday-Thursday) with Friday and Saturday as off days. Let us keep these numbers in mind and compare them with the number of working hours and workdays for many expatriate employees in the private sectors in Oman and Iraq. There are thousands of very unfortunate and enslaved employees who work from 7 in the early morning to 7 in the early afternoon, that is, they work for twelve hours per day! Some of them work until 9 or even 10 at night. There is no compensation of any sort whatsoever, financial or otherwise. This is clearly a gross violation of the local Labor Laws and International Labor Laws and regulations.

The national minimum wage in Oman is 325 rials (one rial = 2.6 dollars) a month after an increase from 200 Omani rials by the Ministry of Manpower in 2013. This wage is hardly sufficient for one week due to inflation and the rising costs of living. Omanis earning the minimum wage are calling for the government to increase their wages to help them to survive:

?“I think it is time the government increases the minimum wage to a decent level, so we can look after our families properly,” said 27-year-old Raeed Al Balushi, who works at an electronics showroom. “It is too hard to live on 325 rials a month. You don’t get a lot these days for your shopping bag.”?(The National, Oman,?August 28, 2017).?This is why some companies have decided to increase the minimum wage for their employees to 400 Omani rials: “The Directorate General of Manpower in Dhofar Governorate has signed an agreement with the Oman Gulf Company to raise the minimum wage for Omanis to RO 400 (i.e. more than one thousand dollars) starting from March this year. As per the agreement, the minimum salary of RO 400 will apply for both existing and incoming employees.”?(Oman Observer,??January 22, 2017).?Another company has gone even further and?increased the minimum wage to OMR 440: “The directorate of Manpower in Dhofar has signed an agreement to increase the minimum wage for Omanis in a company to OMR 440.

In a statement, the Ministry of Manpower said: "The Directorate General of Manpower in Dhofar has signed an agreement to raise the minimum wage for Omanis working for ATW International for the management of beverages and food to OMR440, starting in January."?(Times News Service, December 18, 2018)

What about our cleaners at A’Sharqiyah University in Oman? How much do they get as a monthly wage? It is an incredibly low wage. They get 70 Omani rials (about $150) per month! This means they get only a tiny fraction of the national minimum wage. How can they support themselves and their own families with this trivial amount of money??To deprive the cleaners of the national minimum wage on the basis of their nationality is pure racism.?They also have fathers, mothers, and siblings to help in their home countries. So what do they do to survive? Most of them cannot do anything partly because they are not legally allowed to take up another job to supplement their incomes and partly because of their excessive working hours at A’Sharqiyah University where they work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and oftentimes up to 10 p.m. A few of the cleaners do some odd jobs here and there outside the university campus, mostly on national days, for a few dollars a month, but they cannot change their miserable situation drastically. This is why an increasing number of cleaners find no alternative but to escape from this servitude and augment the national crisis of absconding in Oman. Regrettably, Oman is the only country in the GCC bloc and one of the very few countries in the world that does not offer allowances to the employees’ wives and children – a serious flaw in Oman’s labor laws and its human rights records.

For more information and insights on these points, read my article:" Fighting Modern-Day Slavery: Save the Cleaners at A’Sharqiyah University in Oman"(LinkedIn, March 14, 2019)

The minimum national wage in Oman has been continuously reduced throughout the years to that of a beggar, hardly enough for any human being to survive and live a decent life. Salaries are in general very low and young men cannot settle down and start a family. The rate of spinsterhood in Oman has recently climbed to almost 40% for the first in the history of the Sultanate. The salaries are the lowest in the Gulf region. The only exceptions are the salaries of Oman Government’s officials and the top corrupt higher education executives and managers like Abood Al-Sawafi who receives a salary of about US $30,000 per month together with a huge package of bonuses and privileges just to come to A’Sharqiyah University to read newspapers and drink coffee. There are many cases like that of Abood Al-Sawafi in both the public and private sectors. (Fighting Modern-Day Slavery: Save the Expatriate Workers in the Middle East" (LinkedIn, March 11, 2020).

Useless Investments

Investment, by definition, should bring back a good return (money) and be successful; otherwise, there is no need to invest and waste your money. This is true to some extent but there are other considerations to be taken into account. This general rule of investment has been undergoing many restrictions throughout human history. This is why we have “regulators” to look into how companies, firms, corporations, and all the other sorts of institutions conduct their business. There are now very detailed laws and regulations in developed countries in order to prevent cheating, dishonesty, and corruption. And despite all these “regulators”, “regulations” and “laws”, we hear of scandals here and there. However, businesses do not feel they have “immunity” to operate as they wish, against the law and the genuine interests of customers and society. They are caught from time to time and are penalized; sometimes with very hefty fines. They tell you,?“Nobody is above the law.”?This has been enforced by a great level of freedom of expression and a free press. If a company or an institution misuses its power and legal authorization, you will hear about it immediately; the “cover-up” does not work most of the time.

This situation has been mainly associated with the Western developed countries which have developed a great atmosphere of openness, free enterprise, and freedom of expression. This is one of the reasons for the success, and spread, of many Western values all over the world even in the countries where we hear the “empty rhetoric” of attacking the West all the time! This is also one of the reasons for the success of investments in Western capitalism.?These investments have covered real-value products for society and have focused on important sectors such as food production, electricity, transport, healthcare, housing, hospitals, schools, and higher education. These investments have played a great role in changing the lives of ordinary citizens for the better.

Unfortunately, most crony capitalists in Oman and Iraq have focused on investments for the wealthy: luxurious villas and hotels, five-star clinics and hospitals, entertainment cities, and parks, expensive tour companies, expensive products of all sorts, and even factories producing alcohol and beer for Muslims in Muslim countries!?Most of the necessities and essential products are not locally produced or manufactured; they are still being imported from other countries and are sold to ordinary people at high prices. To facilitate the selling of these imported products, supermarkets, and hypermarkets have been built everywhere even in small villages. This is the only thing they are good at. These crony capitalists are after profits not after developing communities and societies and bringing about real positive changes in life.

The investments in education and higher education have led to the deterioration of educational standards in government schools, colleges, and universities. The vital role of regulators, regulations, and official educational policies is non-existent. The human and corporate values of openness, fairness, objectivity, and transparency are non-existent, either. There is no educational planning and no link or connections with the job market. This in turn has led large numbers of children and young men and women to give up education altogether and work in manual, indecent jobs to help their families to survive. Many higher education institutions like A’Sharqiyah University in Oman offer their students now worthless pieces of paper that are, mistakenly, called “degrees” and “certificates”.?Instead of graduating qualified and skilled human resources badly needed for the development of the country, they add more unemployable young men and women. The real purpose of investment in higher education has been defeated. This is a real disaster.

What makes things more than worse, many investors have nothing to do with higher education. They do not possess the slightest information about how a higher education institution is to be run and conduct business. They are ignorant though wealthy. They have spent their lives as owners of factories that produce cement and bricks; they have never been involved in educating and “producing” human beings. This is why many unqualified, incompetent, and corrupt senior managers can, illegally, creep into higher education institutions to live like parasites.

Fear and Hypocrisy

Because they are unqualified, incompetent, and corrupt, you find them very impolite, vulgar, and uncivilized. They cannot stand any disagreement or argument. They treat you like a “slave” or a “puppet". They, mistakenly, think that they “own” you as long as they pay you a salary. You feel humiliated and insulted when you talk to them or deal with them. They should be ashamed of themselves. You wish you would never have met such monsters in your life, anywhere in the world. They pretend to forget that teachers and other employees give them their lives in return for trivial pieces of paper called “money” which loses its value outside of the border of their countries!! And because they are academically and morally bankrupt, they spread a very disgusting?culture of fear and hypocrisy?in the institution. Because they are tyrants and dictators, they do not offer you any human dignity or respect. Of course, they cannot offer these values as they themselves have no dignity and no self-respect. All they offer you is?“take it or leave it”?policies which cannot be tolerated by any respectable human being. In a test of competence and confidence, these?“senior managers”?deserve less than zero! One wonders how they have crept into high positions in this disgusting way and how they continue to be “covered up” to be so negative and destructive. This explains the failure of many higher education institutions in achieving their strategic educational and national goals and explains also the high rate of turnover in many colleges and universities in different developing regions in the world, including the Middle East.

The vital role of regulators, regulations and official educational policies is non-existent. The human and corporate values of openness, fairness, objectivity, and transparency are non-existent, either. There is no educational planning and no link or connections with the job market. They offer the students worthless pieces of paper that are, mistakenly, called “degrees” and “certificates”.?Instead of graduating qualified and skilled human resources badly needed for the development of the country, they add more unemployable young men and women. The real purpose of investment in higher education has been defeated. This is a real disaster!

Why do investors keep on ignoring their national responsibilities when they invest their money in higher education? Why are they unable to do their job properly and professionally as is the case in reputed international institutions? Until when does the investment in higher education in Oman and Iraq continue to be a curse contributing to unemployment rather than a blessing for reducing it.

There is a simple solution. Investors need to be honest with themselves and their societies and change the whole philosophy of investment in higher education which must be the development of society through quality higher education rather than through chasing illegitimate profits. The first step in this direction is to get rid of all the senior managers who are narrow-minded, unqualified and corrupt. They are the source of all problems and all disasters in higher education.

Bad Economic Planning

Oman and Iraq have both adopted capitalism as the model for their economies, but unfortunately, they have been implementing the worst form of capitalism either because the officials and businessmen do not really understand what capitalism actually means or because they deliberately ignore that they are required to manage a country and a nation, not just a capitalist system based on generating profits at the expense of the vast majority of the population, especially the poor and those who are not endowed with the natural abilities to compete and survive in a merciless capitalist system. This is why the gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger and bigger in Oman and Iraq out of reckless, inhumane, selfish, and stupid policies followed by the governments of these two countries.

The economic and social powers in both Oman and Iraq have been concentrated in the hands of a minority of politicians and a crony capitalist class that exists through the exploitation of the majority working class and their labor; prioritizes profit over social good, natural resources, and the environment. The politicians and capitalists and the wealthy classes associated with the governments have been building palaces and mansions and enjoying life to the full whereas the middle classes and low-income workers who live in slums, are deprived of education, healthcare, and the joys of life, and have nothing to eat.

The poor have no alternative but to give up education for themselves and their children and take to the streets of filthy towns and villages to serve the capitalists and all those who oppress and repress them. The kids work in the streets, polishing shoes for senseless customers and sleeping without shelter whereas the capitalists and the government officials and their families eat the best of food, live in palaces and big houses, and enjoy their lives to the full. And then you find these same government officials talking about social justice and the great efforts of the government to work hard for the prosperity and dignity of all citizens and promise great investments that will generate huge revenues for everybody in Oman Vision 2040 or Iraq Explosive Development.

Most Iraqis and Omanis do not care about any political system nor do they follow any ideology or politician. In fact, most of the ordinary people of the world do not care about politics as such. What they care about is how they are treated by their rulers, first officials, and governments: Do they treat them as human beings, or do they treat them like herds of sheep and cows?

The ordinary people of any country want to live a decent human life in peace and dignity. They do not want to starve and live homeless in a democracy or a dictatorship or a monarchy. They do not want to go to destructive wars with other nations for problems fabricated or exaggerated by their leaders although these problems can be solved peacefully. They do not want to be killed or critically injured or arrested when they demonstrate or complain about some issues even if they live under a democratic system. They do not care about labels; they care about actions.

The Government of Oman has recently announced its official plans to send rockets and satellites to space and maybe spaceships to Mars and other planets, which cost billions of dollars whereas millions of its citizens are homeless and live on the streets. They are not only hungry but they are starving to death. They are forced to sell, with their families and children, homemade foods on the streets, which has, until recently, been very unusual for the citizens of a rich Gulf country like Oman. They do not have access even to the basics of life like water and sanitation. Similarly, the successive Iraqi governments have been investing huge portions of oil revenues in useless investments and very big projects that have been left unfinished for almost two decades now, leaving millions of Iraqis below the poverty line.

The Way Forward

Unemployment in Oman and Iraq is a big problem at a time when most of the public civil offices in both countries are understaffed and very badly equipped. A simple official request or dealing at any office made by any citizen or resident takes weeks and even months to deal with and complete. This unemployment problem can be dealt with very easily by staffing the civil offices and appointing full-time employees, especially now when the oil prices have recently surged. There is now a surplus of $5 billion in the Oman budget. We may also ask: Where is the money going to go?

The Iraqi government needs to take quick action to resolve the underlying causes of poverty. Endemic corruption and weak state insinuations are usually blamed for Iraq’s ongoing crisis that had fueled violent demonstrations as well as instability.

Both Oman and Iraq are in possession of huge natural, agricultural, and economic resources corresponding to population growth. But because of bad economic planning and investments, there are many shortcomings in exploiting these resources in such a way as to optimize the use of the labor force and reduce, or even eliminate, unemployment. As a result of the increase in spending on armaments during previous periods, an effective development policy based on a sound economic model is needed to ensure the employment of manpower to meet development needs commensurate with available resources and capacities.

The best approach for managing people anywhere, especially in businesses and organizations, is to be fair, objective, and consistent in following the official policies, regulations, codes of work ethics, moral values, and international standards of management practice.

The people of any country expect their governments, officials, and top managers to treat them as human beings, take good care of them, and provide them with their basic needs and human rights. They need to live a decent human life in order not to feel injustice and some may go to the extreme to make problems and troubles or even sabotage the development of the country and threaten its stability. To treat them like a herd of sheep or even to use this term to refer to them in any situation or context is totally unacceptable and repulsive.

Unfortunately, this rosy picture does not exist in Iraq and Oman because of bad governance, bad management, and widespread corruption. Those who deprive their citizens of their rights and treat them like a herd of sheep are crony capitalists, bad managers, and corrupt officials. They should be held to account and face justice for their abuse of power.

Corruption does not exist in a vacuum. It is usually committed by senior managers and powerful capitalists who cheat the systems of control and supervision and do not respect any laws or regulations. They are usually entrusted with a range of executive powers but they always betray this trust and go beyond these powers for selfish and wicked purposes.

As we all know, corruption can be reduced, avoided, or eliminated if we take care of two important things: the systems and the people who operate these systems. The systems must be effective and the people who operate them must be honest and efficient. If one of these two things is missing, then we should expect deception and corruption. This is why we have scandals and persistent corruption that hinder the realization of any long-term vision or sustainable development.

Many government officials and top executives in the public and private sectors in Iraq and Oman behave like Pharaohs rather than responsible people in charge of human beings. They are “pig-headed” and do not have any morals, ethics, or principles.?They do not really care about humanity in any form; they just care about money and profits. They mistakenly believe they “own” their people and can treat them the way they want as long as they pay them wages and salaries. This is very clear in the insulting, vulgar, and uncivilized style they follow with their citizens and employees. Corrupt officials, top managers, and crony capitalists like?Abood Al-Sawafi, Hamed Al-Hajri, Mohammed Al-Barashdi, Abdallah Al-Harthi, and Saeed Al-Rubaii?always indulge in very unprofessional behavior of deception, cheating, and lying to the public, to their employees, and to their superiors. They never give correct and accurate information or respect their citizens’ or employees’ rights as specified in their social and work contracts. For them, the qualities of honesty, fairness, and justice do not exist in their life dictionary.

In both Iraq and Oman, the distorted current form of capitalism has failed?to produce an increasing standard of living for most of its citizens. The rich capitalists are getting richer, and the rest of the population is getting poorer. The capitalists and the wealthy classes associated with the governments have been building up palaces and mansions and enjoying life to the full whereas the middle classes and the low-income citizens live in slums, deprived of education, healthcare, and the joys of life, and have nothing to eat.

The most serious danger to society, stability, and the future of both Iraq and Oman are that capitalism and the bad policies of the governments have created in each country an army of slaves, hypocrites, and puppets who are prepared to give up all their dignity, moral and human values and sacrifice themselves just to appease the capitalists, the officials, and the government in order to survive and get some of the left-over food from the crony capitalists.

The poor have no alternative but to give up education for themselves and their children and take to the streets of filthy towns and villages to serve the government officials and the capitalists and all those who oppress and repress them. The kids work in the streets, polishing shoes for senseless customers and sleeping without shelter whereas the capitalists and the government officials and their families eat the best of food, live in palaces and big houses, and enjoy their lives to the full.

Unemployed youth may become easy targets for terrorist groups, militias, drug traffickers, and organized crime gangs. The solution to unemployment lies in revitalizing the economy and investing heavily on industrial and agricultural projects intended to create jobs and stimulate economic growth.

Conclusions

Unemployment is a serious problem around the world, and it seems to be on the increase, so now, it is becoming increasingly important to pay more attention and try to find out the underlying issues that may lead to unemployment and even suicide of vulnerable people, especially young men and women. To help prevent long-term unemployment, we need to highlight the root causes of unemployment in management and economy how these root causes lead to stagnation of the job market and may even lead to chaos, extreme poverty, and economic collapse.

It is very important to speak out about unemployment and conduct a public, informative, and cultural campaign against the root causes of unemployment including corruption, exploitation, bribery, useless investment, work experience for fresh graduates, bad economic planning, and the psychological problems that result from long-term employment.

An effective economic system and a fair distribution of wealth for all citizens and has become an essential element for a decent, human life if governments are serious about the well-being of their people and if they want to behave as conscientious nations in the modern world.

Many senior managers, teachers, and staff members are “recruited” through personal relationships which are called in the Middle East “Wastta” meaning that somebody has intervened illegally for your appointment even if you do not have the qualifications for the job. This is very unfair and lead to serious problems in management and production.

Job hunting for the fresh graduates of colleges and universities is overwhelming and frustrating because relevant work experience remains a primary requirement for most employers although it is illogical and very unfair to demand work experience from students who have just graduated from colleges and universities.

The paradox of the job market is that "you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job.” Employers and recruiters are continually demanding work experience even on low entry-level jobs. It is obvious that applicants with previous work experience are given preference since they require minimum training and yield low hiring costs in spite of the fact that they may not be good employees and that fresh graduates may be a great deal better than them.

Most fresh graduates are disadvantaged in their job search as they lack the relevant work experience and job requirements set by employers. This work experience is mostly used as an ugly slavery tool whereby fresh graduates are given so-called “experience-jobs”: jobs without payment. The fresh graduates are asked to work for free in order to get work experience. This “unpaid employment” may last for several years, especially in schools, and the students are not offered permanent jobs. This is a clear invitation to bribery and corruption. The unpaid teachers and employees may resort to taking bribes from students and customers in order to survive. This practice is also an ugly form of modern-day slavery in every sense of the term.

Work experience for fresh graduates can be solved very easily by firms, colleges, universities, and other employers if they just devise a training program aimed at recruiting fresh graduates for a year or two at a reasonable percentage of the ordinary salary.

Higher education is one of the most important public priorities for any modern-day nation. It is regarded as the guardian of national culture the main factor in economic growth and an indispensable engine for the realization of public and individual aspirations. It cannot be left for greedy, incompetent, and vulgar managers like Abood Al-Sawafi, Hamed Al-Hajri, Mohammed Al-Barashdi, Saeed Al-Rubaii, and Abdallah Al-Harthi to make arbitrary decisions and messy plans for the sole purpose of making profits and torturing those who stand in their way of corruption, fraud, forgery, and thievery.

It is unreasonable, uneconomical, and immoral that a higher education provider like A’Sharqiyah University in Oman is allowed to operate and receive millions and millions of dollars as grants from the Ministry and the government every year but it practices disinformation and deception on a large scale, and does not qualify to be a university in any sense of the word and may lead many students to long-term unemployment and even commit suicide because they are unable to find jobs with their worthless degrees and certificates granted them by such a university.

Everybody knows the situation very well but does nothing to help solve the problem of unemployment, especially for the youth. The governments, the officials, and all the bottom and top decision-makers understand the problem, but keep silent or resort to hypocrisy and irresponsible excuses to justify a very damaging economic situation.

To live comfortably, accumulate wealth, and be rich while many people around you are hungry and are suffering because of unemployment and need help and support should not be our main goal in life. Only bad, selfish, corrupt, and inhumane managers and officials like Abood Al-Sawafi, Hamed Al-Hajri, Mohammed Al-Barashdi, Saeed Al-Rubaii, and Abdallah Al-Harthi do not understand this fact.

Neither the Iraqis nor the Omanis want to be a nuclear or supper power. They just want to live a decent human life like any other peace-loving nation.

There can be no real development or realization of any vision without taking into account the basic needs of the low-income classes, the poor people, and the unemployed who are desperately looking for jobs.

Both the Omani and Iraqi governments need to take quick action to resolve the underlying causes of unemployment and poverty. Endemic corruption, weak state insinuations, and bad economic planning are usually blamed for the ongoing crisis of unemployment in both Oman and Iraq that had fueled violent demonstrations as well as instability.

There is a well-known saying in Arabic: “Let the dog stay hungry so that it will follow you all the time.” But there is another saying, more powerful: “The dog may eat its owner if it does not find anything to eat.”

Beware of the hungry when they get desperate!??

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References

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4.????? Arabian Gulf Business Insight (AGBI ), "Private sector may not solve Oman’s rise in unemployment", Saleh Al-Shaibany, June 11, 2024

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10.? Amiri, S. (2022). Unemployment associated with major depression disorder and depressive symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics, 28(4)

11.? Middle East Monitor, "More than 6m unemployed in Iraq", October 7, 2022?

12.? Shafaq News Agency, " Iraq's youth faces grim future: 250K annual graduates, 2024 budget lacks jobs", 2024-04-03

13.? Mohamed Abdel Saleh (2023), "Unemployment in Iraq: Between Reality and the Priorities of the Ministerial Programme", Al-Bayan Center for Studies and Planning

14.? World Bank, Iraq, Jun 01, 2022

15.? UN ReliefWeb, " Iraq: Growing unemployment threatens stability",18 Feb 2009

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