Labor Minister Ali Rabiee on Saturday described job creation a serious challenge and a costly endeavor facing the Rouhani administration.
The government has sent 3,000 jobseekers oversees as part of its broader scheme to ease and promote overseas employment, seen as a means to tackle unemployment at home, said the minister during a speech at a labor conference held in Tehran, IRNA reported.
“A 50 million rial budget is needed for every single job to be created inside the country,” he said. “In expensive fields such as oil and petrochemical sectors the amount goes up to 20 billion rials.”
“The government has plans to encourage the private sector to take a more active role in job creation,” He said.
He further said that 63 internationally-recognized certificates have been granted to private companies, authorizing them to facilitate overseas employment for Iranian jobseekers.
With unemployment expected to deteriorate in the next few years for about four million university graduates, the government is considering overseas employment as a strategy that would help it tackle rising unemployment.
Unemployment is now hovering around 10%, according to the central bank.
“Nearly 100,000 jobseekers are expected to be sent abroad by the first half of the next year (starting March 21, 2015),” Rabiee said, as reported by ISNA. He also noted that experts seeking jobs abroad will have priority.
The scheme is seen to be benefiting Iran in various ways. Experts believe that overseas employment can bring extra income to the country. “Today, overseas employment is seen not only as a means of generating revenue, but also a way to bring expertise and knowledge into the country,” Rabiee further underlined.
On the sidelines of the conference, Mohammad Taghi Hosseini, a deputy minister, ensured that the government will not cut cash subsidies to those sent abroad for employment.
“Overseas employees will be entitled to all social benefits provided in Iran, including the cash subsidies” he said, adding that the government will make sure that the licensed overseas employees will also remain under national healthcare coverage.
Speaking at the conference, Hassan Taie, a deputy labor minister, said that the government is going to create 400,000 jobs by the end of the year (ending March 20, 2015).
He said the government is also planning to save the existing jobs, which have been badly hit in recent years due to stagflation.
