MANBIJ, Syria (North Press) – People of the city of Manbij, north Syria, criticize the lack of job opportunities in their city despite its important economic and commercial position.
Manbij is known for its strategic location, connecting the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES)-held regions with Syrian government and opposition-held regions.
Commercial movement is active in Manbij, as it is considered an essential source for transferring goods to other areas in northern and eastern Syria.
However, people in the city complain about the lack of job opportunities to secure their daily needs after the fall of worker’s wages due to the collapse of the Syrian pound (SYP).
18-year-old Manbij resident Mohammad al-Jiran said that he is now obliged to help his father work, as “daily needs require more than one working member of the family to cover them.”
“The rise of the dollar exchange rate caused the decline of daily workers’ wages, which does not correspond with the high inflation of prices,” he added.
In February, industrialists coming from Aleppo to Manbij said that Manbij is an appropriate environment for investment, but some difficulties disturb the development of their work, especially the unavailability of electricity.
Meanwhile, agricultural work has declined in the countryside due to several factors, most notably rising costs, the lack of electricity and fuel, and Turkey’s recent seizure of water from the Euphrates River.
However, some people seek to work for institutions of the AANES in the city to gain salaries which are not affected by the stagnation of markets, even though the collapse of the Syrian pound has decreased the value of salaries by half.
25-year-old Manbij resident Nouri Hafiz said that he spent the past days searching for a job to provide him with an appropriate income to secure his family’s needs, “but it was in vain.”
The problem that faces Hafiz and others is that some professions are no longer providing basic daily needs, “as the worker’s daily wage is not equal to one kilogram of sugar.”
Hafiz has not received any reply from Labor Office which is affiliated to Social Affairs and Labor Board in Manbij although he has been registered for nearly one year. In each follow-up, they keep telling him, “it is not your turn yet.”
Hafiz believes that he deserves to get a job opportunity in the institutions of AANES, as he has the high school certificate.
The co-chair of the Board in Manbij, Asma’a Ramo, said that providing work opportunities for all the people is “an intertwined issue and needs to join efforts to solve it.”
“Many organizations in the city are hiring people without coordination with the Board, and we need the coordination so that bigger numbers of deserving people can have jobs,” she added.
The number of applicants for work since 2020 is 6,956, of whom 97 were hired in the institutions of AANES in Manbij, according to the Board’s registration office.
Ramo indicated that it is not possible to employ everyone with the availability of some opportunities, “because there are conditions that all our registered applicants do not possess for their acceptance in the required jobs.”