Iraq’s young covet govt jobs, hurting private sector

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi has repeatedly stressed the need to trim the public sector.

BAGHDAD: Decent salaries and stability are the hallmarks of a job in Iraq’s civil service, an institution much coveted by young graduates, even as it starves the private sector and hobbles the economy.

The patronage systems that feed the public sector in the oil-rich but war-battered nation are so entrenched that even the outgoing finance minister has despaired of ever trimming them down to size.