Population Growth, Employment and Municipal Solid Waste Pollution in Mosul city

Abstract

The phenomenal population growth in Mosul city, from 179,650
people in 1957 to nearly 1,400,000 in 2008, has been the driving force
behind the corresponding growth in the labour force, whose size increased
from around 41,320 people in 1957 to nearly 360,000 in 2008. The annual
growth rate of the labour force, following population growth mainly, has
been 3%. The associated uneven developmental efforts over the same
period led to, among other things, an increase in the level of employment,
from less than 41,320 employees in 1957 to over 275,000 in 2008, even
though the city's average rate of unemployment over the period 2003-2008
passed 25% . As a result of the increased job opportunities, and the city's
real Gross Domestic Product, the daily quantity of residential and
commercial solid waste (R & CSW) generated in the city increased from
less than 114 tons in 1957 to 289.8 tons in 1988, and over 725 tons in
2008. The central argument of this paper is that under conditions of rapid
population growth and employment promotion policy the "bridge"
between population-labour nexus, and the employment–R & CSW nexus
is the rate of unemployment, with the latter being policy variable. The
main conclusion to which this work leads is the following: Local
Government and Mosul University should address the two problems of
unemployment and solid waste pollution in general, and R & CSW in
particular, simultaneously. Otherwise, any efforts aimed at alleviating the
problem of unemployment prevailing in Mosul city today will exacerbate
the problems of solid waste pollution in the city. The paper was concluded
by two recommendations.