Iran: More File for Unemployment Benefits

A total of 783,000 people have filed for unemployment benefits since March 13, of whom 654,000 were found eligible, says an official with the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare. 
“The total number of individuals receiving unemployment benefits last year was 260,000,” Masoud Babaie was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency. 
Hojjat Mirzaie, an official with the Cooperatives Ministry, said earlier that most of those who have filed for unemployment were employed in the services sector.
Ali Rabiei, the government spokesman, has said the economy could lose up to four million jobs as a result of the new coronavirus.  
“More than 12 million workers are employed in the services sector. The early impacts of unemployment can be seen in 10 business groups that were closed as soon as the virus was confirmed. Close to 3.3 million of the employed population in the official economy are directly affected by the crisis,” he was quoted as saying by the Persian-language daily Etemad.