Unemployment is increasing in the Idleb Governorate due to the large number of displaced people and a lack of financial investment. The Salvation Government, which controls the Civil Administration, is being criticized for not providing job opportunities for those who need work.
Currently, the unemployment rate in Idleb is between 78 percent and 80 percent of the total local population, according to figures obtained by Enab Baladi from the Syria Response Coordinators office. The figures exclude those who work daily jobs.
One man, who preferred not to be named out of fear of losing his employment, got a job through a competition that the Salvation Government launched. He is a university student from the Idleb countryside and said that he had started studying at the University of Homs, but never graduated. He later participated in, and won, a competition by the Salvation Government, after which he became employed.
The young man landed a job in the Development Directorate in the northern countryside of Idleb. His salary is approximately 550 Turkish liras (around 39,000 Syrian pounds). Not many other citizens were as lucky, though.
Based on research by Enab Baladi, there are holders of university degrees who have no job prospects and were forced to work in fields that are unrelated to their academic backgrounds.
“No government can employ all citizens”
Mulham al-Ahmad, the official in charge of media relations in the Salvation Government, spoke with Enab Baladi about efforts to employ young people. He stressed that the government has been trying to reduce unemployment by attracting various cadres, degree holders, and university graduates.
In response to the criticism over the high unemployment levels in the governorate, Ahmad said, “there is no government in the world that is capable of creating job opportunities for all its citizens.”
“The phenomenon of unemployment is a societal one that requires various segments of society to come together — including factories, companies, organizations, and others,” he added.
Ahmad explained that the Salvation Government has very specific criteria whereby it attracts the talent needed by the various parties under its purview.
The Salvation Government controls everything related to people’s lives in the Idleb Governorate and the northern Hama countryside — which is under opposition control — and part of the western countryside of Aleppo, at the level of services and administration. The Salvation Government is also establishing projects in the city.
Moreover, the government supervises the management of Turkish border crossings and crossings with areas under the control of the Syrian regime. It keeps some regions under an independent administration, with which it coordinates.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
