Iran’s unemployment rate, the proportion of jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9.7% in the fourth quarter of last fiscal year (Dec. 21, 2020-March 20), indicating a 0.9% decline compared with the same period of the year before.
The Statistical Center of Iran 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 a job—at 40.9%, registering a 1.5% decrease year-on-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.
The total number of employed population was 23.13 million, down 300,000 compared with the same quarter of the previous Iranian year.
The services sector employed 50.4% of the Iranian employed population, as industrial and agricultural sectors generated 33.8% and 15.8% of jobs respectively.
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 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 23.6% in Q4, posting a 2.1% decrease while the unemployment rate of those between 18 and 35 years stood at 16.8%, posting a decline of 1% YOY.
Underemployment, the condition in which people in a labor force are employed for less than 44 hours of service per week, stood at 10.8%.
Of the employed population, 33.9% worked more than 49 hours per week.
Pandemic Effect
The decrease in unemployment comes, as labor force participation has shrunk as a result of jobs lost to the coronavirus pandemic.
The economically active population, the sum of employed and unemployed persons, reduced by 1.62 million in the second quarter of the current fiscal year (June 21-Sept. 21), indicating a 3.1% decline in labor force participation rate compared with the corresponding period of last year, according to a report by Majlis Research Center, the research arm of the Iranian Parliament.
According to this report, 22.3% of the unemployed and 8.9% of employed persons were added to the economically inactive population in Q2. Had they joined the population of people looking for a job, the unemployment rate during the period under review would have been 18.5% rather than the official 9.5% announced by the Statistical Center of Iran.
The MRC report continues: “Of the 1.62 million people that dropped out of the labor market in Q2, 1.01 million were women and 615,651 were men. The second quarter’s economic participation rate fell by 3.1% year-on-year to reach 41.8%. In fact, women have experienced the biggest job losses in Q2. Out of 1.2 million people who lost their jobs in Q2, 460,000 were men and 750,000 were women. Men and women’s participation rates dropped by 2.7% and 3.5% to hit 69.5% and 14.1%, respectively.
The services sector accounted for the biggest share of the unemployed: out of 1.2 million persons who lost their employment in Q2, 817,000 were from the services sector.
Out of 22 groups of economic activities, only three groups, namely “financial and insurance activities”, “construction” and “administrative activities and support services”, saw a growth in employed population. The sharpest declines were registered by the three groups of “accommodation and food services”, “information and communications” and “art, leisure and entertainment”.
