ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Nearly half a million people have applied for a contract government job in Baghdad province since applications opened five days ago, according to a local official. “The employment will be on a contract basis for three years with a monthly salary of 300,000 dinars,” Ola al-Tamimi, head of the services committee in the Baghdad provincial council, told Rudaw. The hiring drive is to fill 11,362 positions in Baghdad, with more than 2,000 additional posts still to be announced. Tamimi said that since applications opened on May 5, nearly 500,000 people have applied. The recruitment campaign falls under Iraq’s three-year federal budget law, which includes the creation of 150,000 contract positions to be distributed across all provinces. Baghdad Governor Abdulmuttalib al-Alawi said in March that 37,000 contract jobs have been allocated to the capital. Iraq’s planning ministry said in January that poverty and unemployment rates declined in 2023, with unemployment dropping from 16.5 percent to 14 percent, based on data collected during the population census in November. Nahro Mohammed contributed to this report.
