More than half (52%) of trainees in last year’s vocational training courses have found employment in different sectors, according to the director general of Supervision, Efficacy and Job Counseling Bureau with the Technical and Vocational Training Organization, affiliated to the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare.
“These trainees received theoretical as well as on-the-job training in workshops and we did not allow the Covid-19 pandemic to hold us back from offering services. Theoretical sessions were held online and workshop trainings were held in person by observing all health protocols to prevent the spread of the virus,” Alireza Taherpour Shalmani was quoted as saying by the news portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.
The official noted that based on information derived from TVTO’s Employment Tracking System, job seekers who failed to find employment have stated lack of job opportunities, insufficient income, low skills and lack of adequate capital to start a business as their main problems.
“Through the Employment Tracking System, we try to replace vocational trainings that have fewer job opportunities with ones that are more in demand. As a result, the number of trainees that find employment has grown over the last five years. The year before last [March 2019-20], 54.7% of our trainees found jobs, 49% in the fiscal 2018-19, 42% in the fiscal 2017-18 and 38.8% in the fiscal 2016-17.”
Taherpour Shalmani said a total of 633 state-owned technical and vocational training schools are active, adding that trainings are free of charge and applicants only need to pay for exams and the final certificate.
TVTO is the primary institution in charge of offering short-term technical and vocational training through both public and private sectors. Its main task is to provide vocational training and research through 1-18 months-long courses in permanent centers of public sector (600 centers nationwide), mobile training teams (in remote areas), training in prisons, military bases and industries, training in Instructor Training Center and private training institutions (14,000 authorized by TVTO).
TVTO trains skilled and semi-skilled labor needed by industrial, agriculture and service sectors.
Fiscal 2020-21 Labor Market
Iran’s unemployment rate, the proportion of jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9.6% in the last Iranian year (March 2020-21), indicating a 1.1% decline compared with the year before.
According to the latest report of the Statistical Center of Iran, a total of 2,474,063 Iranians were unemployed last year. Men’s unemployment stood at 8.4% while the rate for women hovered around 15.6%. Over 1.79 million men and 678,399 women of ages 15 and above were jobless last year.
The unemployment rate was 10.4% for urban areas (two million people) and 7.2% for rural areas (464,726 people).
SCI put last 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 41.3% or 25.73 million people, registering a 2.8% decrease year-on-year.
Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 68.7% and 13.9% respectively in the same period, down 2.4% and 3.1% YOY.
SCI reports that 21.4 million men and 4.33 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active last year, i.e., they were either employed or looking for a job.
The center provides two figures for the youth unemployment rate: the proportion of 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 23.7% in last year, posting a 2.3% decrease while the unemployment rate of those between 18 and 35 years stood at 16.7%, posting a decline of 1.2% YOY.
The share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 38.9% last year, which indicate a decrease of 2.7% YOY.
The unemployment shares of male and female graduates from the total unemployed population stood at 27% and 70.4%, respectively, while the share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population were 42.1% in urban areas and 25.3% in rural areas during the period.
Last year’s employment rate was 37.3% (23.26 million), down 2.1% compared with the year before. Employment rates for men and women were 62.9% and 11.7%, respectively, which constituted 19.6 million men and 3.65 million women.
The employment rate was 36.2% or 17.26 million in urban areas and 41% or 5.99 million in rural areas.
The share of employment of university graduates stood at 25% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment was 21.4% and 44.3%, respectively. Graduate employment rates in urban and rural areas stood at 30.8% and 8.1% of the total population of job-holders.
Last year’s statistics show that 34.4% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 3.6% decrease over the same period of last 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 services sector employed 49.3% of the Iranian employed population (11.46 million) last year, 1% less than the year before, whereas industrial and agricultural sectors provided 33.3% and 17.4% of jobs respectively.
Over 7.74 million were employed in the industrial sector, indicating an increase of 1.3% compared with the year before and 4.04 million worked in the agriculture sector, posting a 0.3% decrease YOY.
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 services sector employed 9.43 million men and 2.03 million women last year, over 6.8 million men and 941,566 women were active in the industrial sector and 3.36 million men and 678,689 women worked in the agriculture sector.
Services sector accounted for 58.7% or 10.11 million of all jobs in urban areas and 24.7% or 1.35 million of jobs in rural areas. The industrial sector made up 34.9% or 6.02 million of the jobs in urban areas and comprised 28.7% or 1.72 million of employment in rural areas. This is while 6.5% or 1.12 million of the total jobs in urban areas and 48.6% or 2.91 million of the jobs in rural areas were in the agriculture sector.
