Khuzestan Province saw the lowest unemployment rate of 5.5% among all Iranian provinces in the second quarter of the current Iranian year (June 22-Sept. 22), according to the Statistical Center of Iran.
Hormozagan registered the highest unemployment rate of 22.6%.
Eight provinces, namely Kurdestan (10.2%), Isfahan (10.6%), Sistan-Baluchestan (11.4%) Ardabil and Lorestan (each 11.7%), Kermanshah (13.6%), Khuzestan (15.6%) and Hormozgan (22.6%), registered double-digit unemployment rates for people of ages 15 and above in Q2.
Tehran’s jobless rate was reported at 7.2%.
Iran’s overall unemployment rate, the proportion of the jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 8.9% in Q2, indicating a 0.7% year-on-year decrease, according to a new report by the Statistical Center of Iran.
A total of 2.33 million Iranians were unemployed in Q2.
Men’s unemployment stood at 7.3% while the rate for women hovered around 17.2%.
Over 1.58 million men and 748,336 women of ages 15 and above were jobless in Q2.
The unemployment rate was 9.6% for urban areas (1.91 million people) and 6.8% for rural areas (422,734 people).
SCI put the Q2 labor force participation rate — the proportion of the population of ages 15 and above that is economically active either employed or looking for a job — at 41% or 2.61 million people, registering a 0.1% decrease year-on-year.
Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 68.4% and 13.7% respectively in the same period.
A total of 21.75 million men and 4.35 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in Q2, i.e., they were either employed or looking for a job.
Zanjan Province had the highest labor force participation rate (49.4%) and Ilam had the lowest labor force participation rate (32.5%).
Tehran’s rate reached 40.3% in Q2.
Zanjan also registered the highest employment rate of 46.6% while Sistan-Baluchestan filed the lowest employment rate of 29.6% among all Iranian provinces. Tehran’s employment rate stood at 34.7%.
Total Q2 Employment Rate
The total Q2 employment rate was 37.3% (23.77 million), up 0.1% compared with the same quarter of the last Iranian year. Employment rates for men and women were 63.4% and 11.3%, respectively, which constituted 20.17 million men and 36.06 million women in Q2.
The employment rate was 36.5% (17.96 million people) in urban areas and 40.1% (5.81 million) in rural areas.
The share of employment of university graduates stood at 26.5% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment rates were 22.8% and 47.1%, respectively.
In urban and rural areas, graduate employment rates stood at 32.2% and 8.8% of the total number of job-holders, respectively.
Q2 statistics show that 39.6% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 1% increase over the same period of last year.
Employment is defined as persons of working age engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit, whether at work during the reference period or not at work due to a temporary absence from a job, or to working-time arrangement.
