I previously linked to an Al-Jazeera report by Ahmed Janabi quoting unnamed economists at Baghdad University who concluded (through means unknown) that unemployment in Iraq was 70%, even though government estimates for the sum of unemployment and underemployment are about 50% (again, these are difficult to pin down concepts, and are used differently in every study or series).
I emailed Mr. Janabi and his editors, requesting the source and/or the authors' names or contact information. After several emails, I received this reply from Mr. Janabi:
Dear Kevin,I replied, thanking him for his time, but asking for the actual source, which I noted I would have translated at my expense. After a week, Mr. Janabi has yet to reply. Reader assistance on tracking down the report is once again requested.Sorry for the late reply. Actually, it was mentioned in the article that the source is a study conducted by College of Economics, Baghdad University. This is my source. The text of the study was published in the Iraqi press. I wish I could get you the text of the study, but sadly Iraqi newspapers have not linked to the internet yet i.e; they do not have websites yet.
Best Regards
Ahmed Janabi
Newsroom Journalist
Aljazeera Online
What is your source for the comment "government estimates for the sum of unemployment and underemployment are about 50%"? Could you please provide a link to these?
See this document. The estimate was made by the Ministry of Planning, although I have been unable to get more detailed data.
I should also note that since 2003Q4, there has been no evidence whatsoever of a substantial increase in the unemployment rate, making the 70% figure rather misplaced.
Also, as of July 2004, the Planning Ministry claimed unemployment was 38%: