Shafaq News..AI reshapes Iraq job market, new graduates hit first

2026-09-08T15:02:35+00:00

Shafaq News- Baghdad

When Farah finished her degree in media studies in Baghdad, she did what
graduates everywhere do: she sent her resume to newsrooms, companies and
offices, looking for a first job in editing, content or administration. What
she found instead was a shrinking set of openings, and a growing sense that the
work itself was changing under her feet

“I was looking for a way in, even at a modest salary, just to learn
and gain experience,” she said. “Then I started noticing that a lot
of the jobs I was <a href="https://jiuniversity.com/college-admissions-how-to-apply/” title=”College admissions: How to apply”>applying for could be done, in large part, with AI
tools.” Tasks she had trained for- rewriting copy, drafting first versions,
summarizing and organizing information- are now faster with software, she said,
which has raised the bar for what a new graduate is expected to bring. A degree
and some writing experience once felt like a reasonable start. Now she feels
she has to arrive already fluent in the tools.

Farah’s experience captures a shift that specialists say is beginning to
reshape Iraq’s job market. The work most exposed, they say, is routine and
repetitive: data entry, administrative tasks, some accounting, archiving and
correspondence, along with basic media content and parts of customer service.
The change is gradual, and there is no sign yet of jobs disappearing at scale.
The sharper risk falls on new graduates, who have long relied on these
entry-level roles as the gateway to experience.

Ali Karim, a technology specialist, said AI is already affecting the
nature of office work in Iraq but that its impact remains incremental. Iraqi
institutions, he said, may increasingly turn to automation to cut time and
cost, trimming the need for some routine tasks even as new roles emerge around
data, systems management and AI itself. “The decisive factor will be whether a
worker can use the technology: those who pair professional skills with AI tools
will be better placed to hold onto their jobs.”

The point most of the specialists returned to is that these professions
are being redefined rather than erased. Nawar al-Saadi, a professor of
international economics, cautioned against calling it the end of clerical or
media work. AI “redefines” such jobs, he said, and an employee who
uses the tools well may become more productive than one working the traditional
way, which will change hiring standards themselves.

Where the pressure shows most clearly is in new hiring rather than
layoffs. Ahmed Eid, an economic researcher, said the greater danger lies in
recruitment: an institution that once needed several employees for a set of
office tasks may now manage with fewer once AI tools are in place. That adds
strain to an Iraqi labor market that already struggles to absorb the country’s
graduates

Eid expects new opportunities to open for those who combine their
original fields with digital skills, and argues that retraining will be central
to who finds work in the coming years

Al-Saadi pointed to the idea of a “hybrid specialist”: the
accountant who also understands AI and data analysis, the administrator fluent
in automation, the journalist who uses AI tools while keeping the skills of
investigation, analysis and critical thinking. Iraqi universities, he said,
have an opportunity to redesign these fields around a mix of academic knowledge
and digital ability, turning the fear of lost jobs into a capacity to create
new ones.

The Iraqi anxiety arrives as international data points to a wider shift.
The International Labour Organization reported that global youth unemployment
edged up to 12.4 percent in 2025, about 67 million people aged 15 to 24, and
noted the decline of clerical and administrative roles that have traditionally
carried young people into the workforce. A Stanford University study covering
late 2022 to mid-2025 found employment falling for workers aged 22 to 25 in the
occupations most exposed to AI, particularly software development and customer
service, even as it held up for older workers in the same fields.

The Budget Lab at Yale, which tracks the question closely, has found
that since ChatGPT’s launch in 2022, AI has so far changed jobs more than it
has eliminated them, with no clear economy-wide link between its use and
overall shifts in US employment or unemployment

For Farah, the shift is already concrete: her degree alone no longer
opens the door, and she is now trying to add the digital and AI skills that
would let her compete

Source: shafaq.com