…didn’t see this coming….

27 October 2009, 0212 EDT


The first oil contract with the Iraqi government goes to China’s CNPC and they are not hiring local labor. From the BBC: “Left Behind By Iraq’s Oil Rush on why the locals are not getting jobs:

There were hopes too, when the Chinese company first arrived, of an employment bonanza.

“We thought everyone will find a job,” said Zahi, a village elder.

So far, they have taken on just a handful of al-Mazzagh’s residents as guards.

But the CNPC says there is little more they can do for local people.

“We are sorry, but they don’t have skills and they can’t speak English,” says a site manager who agreed to come out to talk to the BBC.

English is a job requirement?