Iran’s unemployment rate, the proportion of the jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9% in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2023), indicating a 0.2% decrease compared with the previous year, according to a new report by the Statistical Center of Iran.
A total of 2.34 million Iranians were unemployed in the fiscal 2022-23.
Men’s unemployment stood at 7.7% while the rate for women hovered around 15.8%.
Over 1.66 million men and 685,780 women of ages 15 and above were jobless in the fiscal 2022-23.
The unemployment rate was 9.7% for urban areas (1.93 million people) and 6.7% for rural areas (415,458 people).
Labor Force Participation, Youth Unemployment
SCI put the last Iranian year’s 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 40.9% or 26.06 million people, remaining unchanged compared with the year before.
Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 68.7% and 13.6% respectively.
A total of 21.72 million men and 4.33 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in the fiscal 2022-23, i.e., they were either employed or looking for a job.
The center provides two figures for the youth unemployment rate: the proportion of the population between 15 and 24 years and those between 18 and 35 years.
The youth unemployment rate of those between 15 and 24 years stood at 22.6% in the fiscal 2022-23, posting a 1.1% decrease while the unemployment rate of those between 18 and 35 years stood at 16.3%, posting a decline of 0.2% compared with the year before.
Underemployment, Graduate Unemployment, Employment
Underemployment, the condition in which people in a labor force are employed for less than 44 hours of service per week, stood at 9.5%, down 0.7% compared with the previous fiscal year and was higher for men and those living in rural areas.
The underemployment rate for men and women stood at 10.4% and 4.5%, respectively, while it was 1.1% for urban areas and 27.1% for rural areas.
The unemployment rate for university graduates stood at 12.9% in the fiscal 2022-23, posting a 0.7% decline compared with the year before. Higher education unemployment rate for men stood at 8.9% and that of women stuck around 21.9%.
The share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 40% in the last Iranian year, which indicate a decline of 0.3% compared with the year before.
The unemployment shares of male and female graduates from the total unemployed population stood at 27.1% and 71%, respectively, while the share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 42.9% in urban areas and 26.1% in rural areas during the period.
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.
The total employment rate was 37.2% (23.71 million) in the fiscal 2022-23, unchanged compared with the year before. Employment rates for men and women were 63% and 11.4%, respectively, which constituted 20.06 million men and 3.65 million women in the year under review.
The employment rate was 36.4% (17.94 million people) in urban areas and 39.9% (5.77 million) in rural areas.
The share of employment of university graduates stood at 26.7% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment rates were 23% and 47.5%, respectively. In urban and rural areas, graduate employment rates stood at 32.5% and 8.8% of the total number of job-holders, respectively.
Last year’s statistics show that 38% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 0.2% increase compared with the year before.
Sectoral Review
The services sector employed 51.6% of the Iranian employed population (12.23 million), 1.8% higher than the year before, whereas industrial and agricultural sectors provided 33.6% and 14.8% of jobs respectively.
Over 7.96 million were employed in the industrial sector, down 0.2%, and 3.51 million worked in agriculture, posting a 1.5% decrease compared with the year before.
The services sector consists of wholesale and retail trade; restaurants and hotels; transport, storage and communications; financing, insurance, real-estate and business services; as well as community, social, education, health and personal services.
The sector employed 10.05 million men and 2.17 million women in the year, such that 6.99 million men and 969,893 women were working in the industrial sector and 3 million men and 503,999 women worked in the agriculture sector.
Services accounted for 34.7% or 6.22 million of all jobs in urban areas and 30.1% or 1.73 million of jobs in rural areas. The industrial sector made up 5.8% or 1.04 million of the jobs in urban areas and comprised 42.8% or 2.47 million of employment in rural areas.
This is while 12.5% or 830,155 of the total jobs in urban areas and 17.6% or 108,305 of the jobs in rural areas were in the agriculture sector.
Provincial Review
Semnan Province saw the lowest unemployment rate of 6.4% among all Iranian provinces in the fiscal 2022-23 while Hormozgan registered the highest unemployment rate of 15.3%.
Eight provinces, namely Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari (10.4%), Isfahan (10.7%), Sistan-Baluchestan (11.7%), Khuzestan (12.6%), Lorestan (12.7%), Kurdestan (13.7%), Kermanshah (14.2%) and Hormozgan (15.3%), registered double-digit unemployment rates for people of ages 15 and above in the fiscal 2022-23.
Zanjan registered the highest labor force participation rate (49%) and Ilam showed the lowest labor force participation rate (32.5%), whereas Tehran registered a 40.4% participation rate in the fiscal 2022-23. Zanjan also registered the highest employment rate of 45.7% while Ilam filed the lowest employment rate of 30.2% among all Iranian provinces. Tehran’s employment rate stood at 37.4%.
