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January 2009 - Focus
January 2009

Work Wanted

Words Sarah Birke
Photo Fadi el-Hamwi

Ayham is taking an English course at the Asia Language Centre, down the road from the University of Damascus, where he completed a degree in geology last year. Despite getting good grades, the 24-year-old has been unable to find a suitable job and hopes a certificate in English will help. Ayham is not alone in his struggle to find work. Youth unemployment is a key problem in Syria and Ayham is one of many bright and enthusiastic graduates without a job. “I want to work for an oil or petrol company, somewhere I can use my degree,” Ayham said. “But finding a job in Syria is difficult.”

Some 19 percent of people aged between 15 and 29 were unable to find work in 2007, according to the latest figures from the government. This is more than five times the rate of adult unemployment which officially stands at 4 percent. The figures are all the more problematic given Syria’s young demographic structure. Time spent finding work is also long; 70 percent of young people currently search for more than a year before accepting a job and 40 percent for more than two, according to figures from the Syria Trust for Development. Moreover, the statistics hide those who take a job that has no relation to their qualifications – engineers drive taxis while teachers work as waiters.

All of which sees many of the country’s best and brightest leave the country to secure work or higher wages. While Syria’s ongoing economic opening is helping reverse a long-standing brain drain, with former expatriates returning home to launch their own businesses or take up white collar positions, the outward flow of young people continues.

Ayham is among those considering leaving Syria to find suitable employment. Saudia Arabia and the Gulf are favoured destinations. His family presently supports him in his search for work, but it’s a situation he knows cannot last indefinitely. “I don’t want to leave my country,” he said. “But I think I will have to, at least for a few years, if I can’t find any opportunities here.”

Lack of suitable work

Building a picture of Syria’s youth unemployment problem is difficult. Nader Kabbani, director of research at the Syria Trust for Development, has authored several papers looking into youth unemployment in the country. Kabbani said the nature of the problem is changing from one of no work to a lack of suitable work for a more educated population.

“While unemployment among young people is still high and it is still difficult for many to find work, the situation has been improving,” Kabbani said. “Now the problem is finding suitable work which uses young people’s specific training. The flip side of the coin is that employers can find it hard to locate young workers with the requisite skills.”

Syria’s youth unemployment rate has fallen from a high of 26 percent in 2005, according to research from the Syria Trust for Development. The steepest decline has been among the 15 to 19-year-old age group. Less progress has been made among those aged 25 to 29.

Young Syrians most likely to be unemployed are those who have graduated from vocational secondary schools, with rates for men and women hitting 22 and 53 percent respectively. Unemployment rates among illiterate youth are significantly lower than among university graduates, perhaps indicating educated Syrians prefer to hold out for a job in their field, supported financially by family members, rather than take a low-skilled job.

Despite being a key area targeted for reform, Syria’s educational system continues to find itself out of step with employers’ requirements. English and IT proficiency are almost always among the skills demanded by white-collar employers. Companies also look for occupational skills such as CV know-how and work experience. All of which are lacking in many young job seekers who have little experience outside their main area of theoretical study.

Syria’s business structure, with its high percentage of family businesses, also presents young job seekers with hurdles. Kabbani said there is a tendency within family businesses to employ friends and family members. Personal contacts remain the favoured method for procuring employment. A 2005 School to Work Transition Survey carried out by the International Labour Organisation found 90 percent of young people relied on referrals from friends and family members to find a job. For those with a limited network, this can greatly reduce the chance of finding work. Nor is it the most efficient way of matching jobs with workers.

Syria’s transition to a social market economy is stimulating a move away from traditional networking in favour of formal job hunting methods as growing numbers of regional and international companies enter the market, bringing with them international employment procedures. This too, however, presents its own challenges as a well-formed CV and competent interview technique are now required to impress in a competitive market – soft skills not taught by the country’s education system.

New attitudes

Change is in the pipeline. Damascus University has announced an audit of its curricula to better match graduates with labour market demands. It is also planning to open a careers centre which will teach young people job hunting techniques. Job fairs in the country’s major cities are becoming regular events in an attempt to better match employers with potential employees.

Since 2001, the government has operated employment offices in each governorate specifically charged with the task of finding young people jobs. Organisations such as SHABAB (Youth) have launched training schemes to encourage, support and equip young people with the necessary skills to start their own business.

Perhaps the biggest change is happening within young job seekers themselves, who increasingly view the private sector or self- employment as better career options over the long-favoured public sector. A 2003 survey of youth attitudes found 80 percent of young people said they wanted a public sector job and 60 percent said they would not even consider a job in the private sector. Despite often lower wages, the benefits and job security were valued more highly.

“Part of the reason we founded the offices was to show young people there are jobs not just in the public sector,” Moujahed Abdullah, head of the employment offices at the Ministry of Work and Social Affairs, said. “Many young people consider themselves unemployed if they do not have a job in the public sector.”

As Syria’s private sector takes hold, there is growing evidence that a more entrepreneurial mindset is forming among Syria’s youth. Khitam, a 24-year-old from Lattakia, is repeating her baccalaureate and also studying English at a private school. Better yet, she has just heard she has a second interview with a private tourism company.

“There are no incentives in the public sector,” she said. “There are 100 people doing the jobs of 10 and they have the same salary whatever happens. In the private sector, the more you work the more money you get. However, our generation can be lazy. We have to make sure we have the skills needed by private companies and know how to get jobs with them.”

Getting Down to Business

Words Miriam Wakim

With around 37 percent of the country’s population aged 14 years or younger, Syria’s private sector is increasingly being looked to as the central driver of job growth. It is no small change in a country where securing government employment – and the job security and pension that goes with it – has long been seen as the most sensible career option. With unemployment a major issue confronting the country, particularly among its young, several organisations have emerged in recent years to encourage a more entrepreneurial spirit among young Syrians and support them in launching their own business endeavours.

Organisations like the Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (SYEA), Junior Chamber International (JCI) Syria, SHABAB and the Intilaaqah project recently launched by Shell Syria all offer training programmes, competitions and seminars to give young starters the necessary skills and tools, including all-important financial aid, to start their own businesses and keep them running.

“Syria is a fertile place for entrepreneurship,” Karim Tabah, vice president of Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (SYEA), said. “But a huge amount of work needs to be done.”

Mohammed Tabbaa, president and founder of JCI Syria, added: “People in Syria have a lot of skills. They just have to learn how to discover them.”

A large part of SYEA’s training concentrates on cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit in young people. “Many Syrians study medicine or engineering because their parents push for their children to enter these fields,” Tabah said. “At SYEA, we show Syrians that entrepreneurship is an option.”

Part of this is encouraging young people to branch out on their own and accept that success in the business world and risk go hand in hand. “Failure in Syria is considered something dark in your career or life, but in other cultures failure is allowed,” Tabah said. “Failures know why they failed and will be more successful later. They are set and ready for success.”

And it seems the efforts are paying off, with a new generation keen to exploit the new and emerging resources and options available to them. Ole Myklestad, general manager of Syria Shell, said the internet and other new technologies are influencing young people’s ideas about business. “We see more and more entrepreneurs trying to use the internet to provide new services and promote certain products in Syria,” he said.

According to Myklestad, another challenge facing young entrepreneurs in Syria is funding of their projects. “Socially, young entrepreneurs need self-confidence and community support,” he said. “They need a space for creativity.”

SHABAB, an organisation under the umbrella of the Syria Trust for Development charged with assisting young entrepreneurs, gives the following advice: “Don’t let the challenges get to you, rather create an opportunity from them to develop your skills and experiences, and take a step through them towards the realisation of your goals.”