An estimated 48.8% of the employed population (11.55 million) was on the services sector payroll in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (March 21-June 21), 0.9% less than the corresponding period last year, the Statistical Center of Iran reported.
Industries and agriculture provided 33.2% and 17.9% of jobs, respectively.
Over 7.87 million were on industrial payrolls up 1.4% compared to the same period a year ago and 4.24 million worked in agriculture down 0.7% decrease YOY.
The services sector consists of wholesale and retail trade; restaurants and hotels; transport, storage and communications; financing, insurance, real estate and businesses plus community, social, education, health and personal services.
SCI said this sector employed 9.55 million men and 2 million women in the three-month period. Over 6.99 million men and 875,573 women were working in the industrial sector and 3.5 million men and 746,601 women worked in the agriculture sector during the period.
Services accounted for 57.8% or 10.18 million of all jobs in urban areas and 22.6% or 1.36 million in rural areas.
Industries accounted for 35% or 6.16 million jobs in urban areas and 28.1% or 1.7 million in rural areas. This is while 7.1% or 1.25 million of the total employment was in urban areas and 49.4% or 2.99 million were rural agriculture jobs.
Total Q1 employment rate was 37.7% (23.67 million), up 0.8% compared to the same quarter in the last calendar year. Employment for men and women was 63.9% and 11.5%, respectively -- 20.05 million men and 3.62 million women.
The employment rate was 36.5% (17.6 million people) in urban areas and 41.6% (6.06 million) in rural areas.
The share of employment of university graduates was reported at 25.3% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment was 21.7% and 45.3%, respectively. Graduate employment rates in urban and rural areas stood at 31.2% and 8.2% of the total working population.
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.
Iran’s unemployment rate, the proportion of jobless population of ages 15 and above, was 8.8% in Q1, indicating a 1% decline compared to the same period last year.
According to SCI data, 2,291,604, Iranians were unemployed in Q1 – 1.62 million men and 669,346 women of ages 15 and above were jobless in Q1.
The urban unemployment rate was 9.6% (1.87 million people) and 6.4% for rural areas (416,220 people).
The SCI put Q1 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 41.4% or 25.96 million people, up 0.4% y/y. Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 69.1% and 13.7%, respectively.
It said 21.67 million men and 4.29 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in Q1, i.e. either employed or looking for job.
