Damascus: Unemployment rate 8%, will decrease when peace is made with Israel
Syria, Economics, 2/4/2000

Syrian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ali Khalil on Wednesday expected the unemployment rate to be settled at 8% for this year, adding that this rate will decrease if a peace agreement is reached between Syria and Israel.

The Syrian minister this rate is high for Syria, "but it will be eventually decreased with the increase in stability in the region."

The Syrian minister added that Israel has created a sort of an unstable atmosphere and hoped the political-geographical conditions, due to the fact the military expenditures which are at the meantime needed for defense needs in Syria, will be used later for infrastructure and development projects, which, in their turn, will increase work opportunities following the attainment of peace.

The Syrian minister estimated the unemployment rate in the country at 8% for this year, while it was 6% in 1994 and 8.4% in 1981.

Minister Khalil said that the volume of reforms that can be made in the public sector which contains 25% of the labor force in the country, excluding military men, is limited, because the government is hesitant in adding new burdens to the unemployment crisis.

The minister indicated several reforms which have been so far carried out, especially in promoting three-state run textile companies to work on commercial bases, noting that these companies were profitable in 1999. He expressed hopes of expanding work in a policy to cover other textiles companies which number between 20 and 25.

The minister added that market reforms, including lifting restrictions from exports, will help improve productivity, attract investments, and ensure job opportunities for 200,000 persons who are annually joining the labor force in the country.

He expressed his conviction that increasing technical qualifications and reduction in the Syrian labor costs will make of Syria an attractive investment region under a better political environment.

He indicated the large-scale government backing which absorbs annually US $2 billion out of the annual budget estimated at US $5.1 billion.

This backing is invested in foodstuffs commodities, free education, medical care for all, providing help in ensuring free transport means to state employees, adding that the reduction in inflation rates in recent years means that "inflation did not eat the wages."

The Syrian labor minister said that some 500,000 foreign workers are working in Syria, mostly from Sri Lanka, Egypt and Somalia, while some one million Syrians are working in the Gulf and 225,000 in Lebanon.

Previous Stories:
  Budget discussions by the Syrian parliament   (1/18/2000)
  General conditions of Palestinian refugees in Syria   (11/19/1999)
  Economic growth is less than population growth in Syria   (7/23/1999)

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