Alexandria C. Smith

This monograph provides strategies to reemploy civil-service workers in the private sector and to increase private-sector employment in the Kurdistan Region Iraq. The research is based on a variety of methods, including analyses of survey data, analysis of Kurdistan regional and Iraqi national documents and laws, and a qualitative assessment of numerous conversations with government officials and private-sector employers."

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq needs policy-relevant data to help improve infrastructure, encourage the private sector, attract foreign investment, and foster economic growth. The Kurdistan Region Statistics Office needs to build capacity to collect the data. RAND worked closely with the Office to build capacity by preparing, conducting, and analyzing the first round of a survey of the regional labor force.

The study addresses the question of how the Kurdistan Regional Government can improve the private-sector labor market in the Kurdistan Region Iraq. Doing so will involve creating mechanisms by which job-seekers can develop the right skills and find employers who will hire them, employers can find the employees they need, and the government can create an enabling environment in which the best matches between job-seekers and employers can be made."