Celebrating finalizing YLMA data collection - youth volunteers in AYFS center in Khanaqin, Diyala, February 2018.

YOUTH-LED MARKET ASSESSMENT BASIC FINDINGS JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018

Table of Contents

Context 4

Report Structure 4

Data Collection Methods 4

Methodology 5

Limitations and Challenges 5

Youth Selection 5

Findings 6

Business profiles 6

Labour Market Overview 7

Businesses growth 8

Labour Market Demands 9

Employer preferences 10

Employer preference regarding community status 10

Employer preference regarding gender 11

Employer preference regarding age 11

Employer preference regarding previous experience 12

Employer preference regarding language skills 12

Employer preference regarding dressing manner 13

Labor Market Challenges 13

Current Recruitment Practices by Sector in Urban Areas 14

Willingness to take apprentices and interns by sector 15

Type of training practices by sector 16

Percent of employers aware of any service providers such as employment agencies, vocational

training providers, etc.) 16

Employer Perceptions of Youth 17

Female presence in labor market by sector 17

Annexes 17

Employer survey 17

4

Context The Iraqi context is increasingly more complex, with over 8.7 million people in need of humanitarian

assistance, including 249,641 Syrian refugees and nearly 3 million internally displaced Iraqis. While the

attention of humanitarian actors has been directed towards areas newly retaken from the Islamic State of

Iraq and the Levant, Sulaymaniyah and Diyala remain among the areas hosting a large population of

displaced families from Syria and Iraq. Current projection also indicates that as many as two million people

may return to their homes of origin during 2018. Diyala has already seen the return of nearly 220,000

individuals. As of February 2017, over 5 million people are in dire need of livelihoods assistance across Iraq.

The strategic objective of the Emergency Livelihoods and Social Cohesion Cluster and its partners for 2018

Build the resilience of IDPs, host communities and refugees and enable them to become self-reliant during

chronic crisis, in their chosen location of Iraq, through support to community assets, increasing access to

regular income and opening channels for dialogue. In order to contribute to the achievement of this strategic

objective, Mercy Corps has conducted a labor market assessment in January through March 2018 in

Sulaymaniyah city center and surroundings, Sulaymaniyah governorate, and in Khanaqin district of Diyala

governorate, to assess employment opportunities and gain a deeper understanding of market demand and

trends and patterns in various sectors of employment and professional networks existing there.

Report Structure This report is outlined as follows:

The first section consists of the description of the methodology used for this labor market assessment,

including the assessment objectives, data collection and sampling methods, and the study limitations and

field challenges;

The second section summarizes the main findings of this evaluation, including business profiles,

employment opportunities, skills in demand and market prospects;

The third and last section presents the conclusions drawn from this labor market assessment in

Sulaymaniyah and Khanaqin.

Data Collection Methods A quantitative survey was administered to business owners in order to explore the structure, opportunities

and challenges of a range of business sectors; current hiring practices; current practice and demand for

training schemes and apprenticeships; skills-sets most in demand; businesses’ perceptions of job seekers;

and constraints to starting or expanding a business. The survey tool is attached to this document as an

annex. Data collection occurred over a sixteen days period between Jan. 25th and Mar. 7th, 2018. Data

collection was led by a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer and a Senior MEL Officer

supervising a team of 115 youth in both Sulaymaniyah and Khanaqin (67 males and 48 females) supported

by partners’ coaches and Mercy Corps program team. In order to minimize data entry errors and maximize

efficiency in data collection, this assessment was conducted using mobile data collection techniques, known

as Open Data Kit (ODK); the ONA online platform has been used for questionnaire coding and data

analysis.

5

Methodology Innovate program aims to identify and facilitate opportunities for youth to inform the design and

implementation of its programs. One method employed globally is the Youth-Led Market Assessment

(YLMA), often complimentary to an overarching and more rigorous labour market assessment. The YLMA

aims to include youth in the design, data collection and data analysis process, providing space for youth to

inform and adapt tools, review and update the methodology, learn firsthand from market research, and help

to analyze findings.

The Youth-Led Labour Market Assessment process began with a regional Training of Trainers (ToT) to build

the capacity of Innovate program teams to work with youth volunteers in the design and roll out the YLMA.

Before YLMA implementation, the team developed two key research tools (a business survey and focus

group discussion guide), reworked the training of trainers' materials for a new youth audience, and created a

detailed agenda. The total number of surveys conducted per location is below

Location Number of surveys

Khanaqin 170

Sulaymaniyah - Urban 278

Sulaymaniyah – Peri-Urban 230

Total 678

The team also conducted secondary research help define the business selection criteria.

Limitations and Challenges Data collection was restrained to locations around current Mercy Corps youth centers utilized under our

Innovate program in Sulaymaniyah and Khanaqin in the five following locations: Sulaymaniyah center,

Rapareen and surroundings, Said Sadiq in Sulaymaniyah governorate and Khanaqin center in Diyala

governorate. Thus, businesses and shops found in the assessment locations were mostly micro-businesses

of less than 5 employees, although it was recommended to the data collection team to include larger

businesses in the sample as much as possible. To somewhat address this

Youth Selection The Innovate program officer selected a team of volunteers in each center from varying backgrounds and

experiences. The team worked to create an inclusive environment that encouraged participation and

cooperation between the host, IDPs and refugee volunteers. Youth surveyors went out in mixed groups of

IDPs, refugees and host, and mixed gender teams when appropriate. Innovate program team designed and

conducted a two days training course for the youth volunteers prior to the start of the assessment. The

trainers aimed to help youth understand the goals of the youth lead market assessment and how the

findings would be used to tailor program activities. Youth helped design the survey tools.

6

Findings Business Profiles

Due to social and cultural norms in Sulaymaniyah, fewer business owners were female; Mercy Corps field

monitors were able to interview only 7 percent women, and 93 percent men. Most of surveyed employers

were business owners (68.4%), managers (15.2%) and others (16.4%). As it is shown below;

The most numerous type of business fell into the retail trade such as stationeries, clothing and fabric shops,

tailoring and sewing businesses, cosmetic shops, sweet shops, as well as petrol stations, chicken and fish

shops, most of which were specified under ―Others‖. Manufacturers of construction materials, bakeries,

beauty salons, carpentries and construction industry, mobile phone repair shops and manufacturers of food

products and beverages came next. All locations were very similar in this regard.

93%

7%

Gender of respondents

7

Labour Market Overview

The youth volunteers spent four days in Sulaymaniyah and surrounding surveying businesses. The team

conducted 417 surveys - 242 in urban and 175 in peri-urban areas. Figure 2 shows the exact breakdown of

business surveys completed by sector. Sectors surveyed include:

Agriculture and livestock

Barbershop/ Hair Salon

Cooling and Heating

Entertainment and Wedding Services

Food and Beverage

Furniture

Leather/ Textile / Clothing workshops

Manufacturing

Retail

Software / Hardware maintenance

Solar Energy

Supporting construction functions

Textile Manufacturing

University Services

Vehicle Maintenance

Other

The other sector includes repairing shops for example (sewing machine, mobile, music instruments,

satellite, computer, software, cars and electronic devices)

The majority of businesses surveyed were macro and small enterprises

Micro Enterprise: less than 9 employees

Small Enterprise: between 10 and 49 employees

8

Medium Enterprise: between 50 and 250 employees

Large Enterprise: greater than 250 employees

Businesses Growth

The majority of respondent reported that businesses are stable in both urban and peri-urban areas, while

some reported growth in businesses comparing to the last year. As shown in table below:

Business state Percent in

urban area

Percent in peri-

urban areas

decreasing 9% 5%

Stable 54% 65%

increasing 24% 23%

The firms which reported growth were mostly from retail trade and other sectors noticing that the type and

size of businesses surveyed under the retail trade sector and the other sectors are similar, as shown in the

figure below:

91%

7% 0% 0%

96%

3% 0% 0% 0

20

40

60

80

100

120

micro small medium large

Urban Peri-urban

Size of survyed businesses

9

The growth rate in both urban and peri-urban are very close as shown in the figure below

Labour Market Demands

There is currently not a large demand for labor. Only (28%) of the businesses surveyed have vacancies and

are actively hiring which is from retail trade and 60% from others are hiring but the other are the same

sectors as the retail trade. Figure below shows the percentage of businesses in each sector that are hiring

or looking for youth recruits.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

decreasing

stable

increasing

Business grwoth by sector

11% 5%

61% 69%

27% 25%

01020304050607080

urban peri-urban

decreasing stable increasing

grwoth in urban and peri-urban

10

Employer Preferences

Education level preference by each sector

The majority of the businesses surveyed stated that they have no preference regarding to education level of

their employees followed by a preference of possessing a primary level certificate maybe that is mostly due

to the size and type of the businesses surveyed. At the same time the sectors that required a professional

degree for example the education and financing sectors

11

Employer Preference Regarding Community Status

Most of the sectors reported not having preference regarding the community status of their employees but in

the sectors were they employers have preference it appears that the preference to hire from host community

were much higher than IDPs community

Employer preference regarding gender

Most of the sectors surveyed stated that they prefer to hire male workers; it was noticeable that even the

sectors that did not exclusively prefer male workers stated not having any preference regarding gender. The

figure below shows that only finance/accounting didn’t had any preference;

0%20%40%60%80%

100%120%

female_workers

male_workers

no_preference

Employer preference regarding gender

12

Employer preference regarding age

Mostly the age workers of 20-24 was preferred by employers in the majority of the sectors

Employer Preference Regarding Previous Experience

All the sectors stated that they prefer that their employees have some prior experience before they hire

them. There was small percentage of acceptance of workers without any previous experience. Again,

among all the sectors there was small proportion who stated that they do not have any preferences

regarding previous experiences.

0%20%40%60%80%

100%120%

15-19

20-24

25-up

nopreference

Employer prefenrce regading age

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

New is fine, can learn on the job

Some experience

Several years of experience

No preference

Employer preference regarding previous experience

13

Employer Preference Regarding Language Skills

All the sectors stated that they prefer that their employees possess Kurdish language skills, there were also

some preferences for English and Arabic language skills in the majority of the sectors.

Employer Preference Regarding Dressing Manner

Most of the sectors stated that appearance of their employees matter to great or some extend and a

proportion of the majority of the sectors stated no preference regarding dressing manner except of

finance/accounting were all the employers surveyed in this sector stated the great importance of

appearance.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

english

arabic

kurdish

turkish

Employer prefernece regarding language

14

Labor Market Challenges

The employers were present with a list of potential challenge that they face when trying to hire new

employees. The challenges vary from sector to sector. In finance/accounting the main challenge highlighted

by the employer were lack of previous experience while in the other sectors other challenges were stated by

the employers, demand for high salaries were present in all of the sectors.

Current Recruitment Practices by Sector in Urban Areas

In Urban areas Most of sectors used various ways to find new employees except for agriculture sector which

depends only on relatives and education which depends on advertisements.

15

While in per-urban areas employers in all sectors mostly depend on their relative and current employees to

find new employees, this might be due to the nature of these locations where they are mostly small in size

and less modern than the urban areas.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

advertisement referal relatives through current employees

Recrutiment practicies in urban areas by sector in urban areas

16

Willingness to Take Apprentices and Interns by Sector

Most of the sectors stated that they are willing to take interns and apprentices except for finance/accounting

were all the employers surveyed in this sector indicated that they are not willing to take interns and

apprentices.

Type of Training Practices by Sector

Most of the sectors depend on matching new employees with older employees in the business to train them

and some stated onsite training and using training centers to train their staff.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

1. Agriculture

2. Livestock

3. Manufacturing

4.Retail trade

5.Wholesale trade

6.Construction

7.Hotels and restaurants

8.Transport

9.Finance/insurance

10.Real estate/renting

11.Education

12.Health and social work

13.others

yes

Wllingness to take interns apprenticeships/on-the-job trainees by sector

17

Employers Aware of Service Providers such as Employment Agencies, Vocational Training Providers, etc.

The majority of the employers did not have knowledge and this is supporting the fact that most of the sectors

stated not using any training providers’ center for training their staff.

Employer Perceptions of Youth

Mostly the employers perceived youth positively against small percentages who have negative perception

about youth

Female Presence in Labor Market by Sector

The different between the percentages of female workers against male workers is 62% this indicating that

the labor market is mostly male dominant.

16% 15% 10% 10%

39% 40%

54% 57%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

unprofessional lack of skills unreliable Lazy

negative positive

Employer's perception about youth

18

Annexes PRM INNOVATE

Employer survey

81%

19%

Male

Female

Gender division in the labor market

19

Please make sure to identify either the owner/partner or a director. If these people are unavailable, do not conduct the survey.

Hello, my name is --------------- and am working with Mercy Corps, can I speak to the owner or manager of this place/company, please? Mercy Corps is an international organization that has a variety of current projects in 40 countries including Iraq since 2003. Currently Mercy corps is starting a new program called Innovate. Through this program Mercy corps will work with the local businesses and youth to develop the skills and abilities of youth by giving them livelihood opportunities as an attempt to make youth more resilient in a way that foster psychosocial well-being. We have this Official Mercy Corps Letter of Introduction to share with you that provides a formal description of our project and purpose for our research. Mercy Corps is implementing an Addressing Root Causes project that is identifying gaps and needs for the employing youth within high demand sectors. Today we are here to conduct a survey of local employers to learn more about what businesses need and in particular how businesses are engaging with young people (ages 18-25) inside Jordan. We would greatly benefit from your expertise and perspective as we design the program. Participation in the survey is voluntary and you are free to decline to answer any or all questions. The results will be kept confidential and will only be used to help Mercy Corps design better programs in this region. We would really appreciate your input as an influential business owner in Sulaymaniyah/Khanaqin We will ask you a series of questions about your business and your views about youth in the community. My colleague will be capturing the information on a tablet and I will take a few notes as we go so that we make sure to gather all of your insights. This survey usually takes 20-30 minutes to complete.

1 May I begin the survey? 1. Yes 2. No (Stop the interview)

For Interviewer to Record (Do not ask from the respondent)

2 Name of survey administrator

3 Date of interview

4 City 1. Khanaqin 2. Sulaymaniyah

5 Area 1. Downtown 2. Industrial area 3. Other (specify)

Interviewee personal profile

6 What is your full name?

7 Gender 1. Male 2. Female

8 What is your contact number(s)?

9 What is the highest level of education that you have completed? Do not prompt: Single Answer

1. No education 2. Graduated from primary 3. Graduated from intermediate 4. Graduated from secondary 5. Graduated from technical institute 6. Graduated from university

10 What is your role in the business? (Job title of respondent)

1. Owner 2. Manager 3. Other 4. Specify

Business Profile

11 What type of business is this? 1. Agriculture and livestock

2. Manufacture of food products and beverages

3. Manufacture of furniture and wood products

4. Carwash

5. Construction company and manufacture of construction materials

6. Manufacture of carpets and rugs

20

7. Sewing/tailoring

8. Embroidery

9. Handicrafts

10. Caligraphy

11. Metalwork

12. Metal press

13. Tinsmith

14. Repairing of consumer electronics and computers (TV, radio, refrigerator, air conditioner, fan, iron, etc.)

15. Repairing of mobile phone and tablets

16. Beauty salon (Beauty parlour/barber)

17. Repairing of electric motors, generators, transformers, and other electric equipment

18. Repairing of machineries and equipment

19. Repairing of vehicles and motorcycles

20. Car and motor sales

21. Repairing of watches and clocks

22. Construction of buildings

23. Electric wiring

24. Carpentry

25. Plumbing

26. Restaurants and food service activities

27. Bakery

28. Printing and publishing

29. Wholesale trade

30. Retail trade

31. Transportation (including driving)

32. Banking and money lending services

33. Education (school, institute, university etc).

34. Health

35. Other (specify)

12 Do you know what year your business was established?

1. yes 2. no

13 How long has your business been operating?

1. 1 year or less 2. More than 1 year to 3 years 3. More than 3 years

Labor and Employment

14 What is the primary market that your business sells its goods or services to? (choose all that apply)

1. Individuals or households 2. Small business/traders 3. Large businesses in domestic market 4. Tourists 5. International market 6. Government agencies/public enterprises 7. Other 8. Please specify

15 How many total employees does your business have, including you? (If

Number

21

applicable)

16 Now I would like to ask you about the breakdown of employees? I will ask you a list of categories and ask that you give me your best estimate of the number of people in each category that you employ.

1. How many women? (number) 2. How many men? (number) 3. How many Refugees? (number) 4. How much Host community? (number) 5. How many IDPs? (number) 6. How many people work here that have any kind of

disability? (number) 7. How many Youth (18-25) male and female? (number)

17 Of the total number of persons employed in the business, in which age category are the majority of employees?

1. 15-19 Years 2. 20-24 years 3. 25 and above

18 What is the current state of your business? Is your business: (read list)

1. Increasing in staff and finances 2. Stable/staying the same in staff and finances 3. Decreasing in staff and finances

19 Do you have any job vacancies currently?

1. Yes. 2. If yes, how many? 3. No.

20 Now, I would like to list some challenges that you might face in running your businesses. For each challenge can you rate that challenge on a scale of 1 to 5, in terms of how much of a challenge it is to your business. 1 means it is only a small problem at all while 5 mean this is an extreme challenge. (Use visual aid)

1. Cost of production (such as labor, raw materials, fuel, etc.) 1 to 5

2. Labor (such as capacity, retention, availability, human resources) 1 to 5

3. Demand (such as marketing, product awareness, low demand) 1 to 5

4. Access to financial services (such as access to finance, getting a loan, liquidity of cash, etc.) 1 to 5

5. Government regulations (Taxes and governmental regulations) 1 to 5

6. Access to technology (such as securing equipment, marketing tools, etc.) 1 to 5

Hiring Practices

21 Going from the same scale from before I am going to ask questions related to recruitment and retention of human resources. Please answer in accordance to the scale.

1. Demand of high salary, 1 to 5 2. Lack of technical skills, 1 to 5 3. Lack of soft skills, to 5 4. Lack of experience. 1 to 5 5. Commitment and discipline, 1 to 5 6. Appropriate level of education, 1 to 5 7. Commute distance, 1 to 5 8. Lack of number of applicants, 1 to 5

22 How do you normally find new workers?

1. Advertisements 2. Referrals from education/training institutions 3. From manpower agencies 4. Through relatives or friends 5. Promoting from within (employees already in the

business) 6. Through on the job training 7. Online forums 8. Social media 9. Other, specify

For your kind of business what is the most important deciding factor in hiring? I will list different factors and we will discuss each one. If you had to hire someone, would you prefer to hire:

23 What age range do you prefer to hire? 1. Workers 15-19 2. Workers 20-24

22

3. Workers 25 and above 4. No preference

24 Do you prefer to hire men or women? 1. Female workers 2. Male workers 3. No preference

25 What Nationality do you prefer to hire? 1. Host community

2. IDPs community

3. Refugee community

4. Other Specify

5. No preference

26 What Education level do you prefer to hire?

1. Completed primary school 2. Completed secondary school 3. Completed college/vocational school 4. Completed university or above 5. No preference

27 What level of Previous experience do you prefer your employees to have?

1. New is fine. 2. can learn on the job. 3. Some experience. 4. Several years of experience. 5. No preference

28 Do you currently offer internship or apprenticeship opportunities in your business?

1. Yes 2. No

29 Are you willing to take on apprenticeships/on-the-job trainees?

1. Yes 2. No

Perceptions of Youth

30 Which of the following statements do you most agree with?

1. Youth are reliable employees 2. Youth are unreliable employees 3. Youth are hardworking 4. Youth are lazy 5. Youth have adequate skills and knowledge for the

workforce? 6. Youth lack skills and knowledge needed for the

workforce 7. Youth are professional employees 8. Youth are unprofessional employees

Training practices

31 Are you aware of any service providers (financial, employment agencies, capacity building agencies, VTC centers) available to support your business

1. Yes 2. No 3. If yes 4. Please specify

32 How are you currently training your employees?

1. On-site training

2. Match them with more experienced employees, have them train the new employees

3. Provide new employees with handbooks and training manuals to read

4. I require my employees to have a training certificate from vocational training centers

23

CONTACT

Rahella Abdulkhalq

Senior MEL Officer | Monitoring, Evaluation and

Learnig

rabdulkhaliq@mercycorps.org

About Mercy Corps

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powered by the belief that a better world is possible.

In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries

around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into

action — helping people triumph over adversity and

build stronger communities from within.

Now, and for the future.

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Portland, Oregon 97204

888.842.0842

mercycorps.org

5. Other

6. Please specify

I have completed the survey. I wanted to thank you for your time - and remind you that this information will remain confidential and is used only for our program design purposes. Thank you again.