The Statistical Center of Iran provides two figures for the youth unemployment rate: the proportion of the population between 15-24 years and those between 18-35 years.
According to the center's latest report, the youth unemployment rate of those between 15-24 years stood at 25.7% in the fourth quarter of the current Iranian year (Dec. 22, 2019-March 19), posting a 2.4% decrease compared with the preceding year's similar period.
The unemployment rate of those between 18-35 years stood at 17.8%, posting a year-on-year decline of 1.6%.
The overall unemployment rate in Iran stood at 10.6% in Q4, indicating a 1.7% YOY decline.
A total of 2,788,587 Iranians were unemployed in Q4. Men’s unemployment stood at 9.2% while the rate for women hovered around 17.2%. Over 1.97 million men and 812,902 women of ages 15 and above were jobless in Q4.
The unemployment rate was 11.4% for urban areas (2.23 million people) and 8.5% for rural areas (554,330 people).
These figures were calculated between Feb. 1-14, before the outbreak of coronavirus, when the labor market was in better shape.
SCI put Q4 labor force participation rate—the proportion of the population of ages 15 and above that is economically active either employed or looking for job—at 42.4% or 26.22 million people, registering a 1.1% decrease year-on-year.
Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 69.4% and 15.3% respectively in the same period.
SCI reports that 21.49 million men and 4.73 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in Q4, i.e., they were either employed or looking for job.
Unemployment rate for university graduates stood at 15.6% in Q4, posting a 2% decrease YOY. Higher education unemployment rate for men stood at 11.2% and that of women stuck around 24.7%.
The share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 39% in Q4, which indicates an increase of 1.4% year-on-year.
The unemployment shares of male and female graduates from the total unemployed population stood at 26.6% and 69.1%, respectively, while the share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 42.8% in urban areas and 24% in rural areas during the period.
The total Q4 employment rate was 37.8% (23.43 million), down 0.4% compared with the same quarter of last Iranian year. Employment rates for men and women were 63% and 12.7%, respectively, which constituted 19.51 million men and 3.92 million women in Q4.
Employment (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) was 36.9% or 17.44 million in urban areas and 40.8% or 5.98 million in rural areas.
The share of employed university graduates stood at 25.1% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment was 21.4% and 43.7%, respectively.
Graduate employment rates in urban and rural areas stood at 31% and 8.1% of the total population of job-holders respectively.
Q4 statistics show that 35.3% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 0.2% decrease over the same period of last year.
