The services sector employed 49.9% of the Iranian employed population (11.74 million) in the current Iranian year’s third quarter (Sept. 23-Dec. 21), 0.9% higher than the corresponding period of last year.
The industrial and agricultural sectors provided 34.7% and 15.4% of jobs respectively, according to the Statistical Center of Iran.
Over 8.16 million were employed in the industrial sector, indicating an increase of 0.4% year-on-year, while 3.63 million worked in the agriculture sector, posting a 1.3% YOY decrease.
The sector consists of wholesale and retail trade; restaurants and hotels; transport, storage and communications; financing, insurance, real-estate and business services; and community, social, education, health and personal services.
It employed 9.72 million men and 2.01 million women in the three-month period, such that 7.22 million men and 941,441 women were active in the industrial sector and 3.09 million men and 540,008 women worked in the agriculture sector in Q3.
Services accounted for 58.1% or 10.3 million of all jobs in urban areas and 24.7% or 1.44 million of jobs in rural areas. The industrial sector made up 35.8% or 6.35 million of the jobs in urban areas and comprised 31.2% or 1.81 million of employment in rural areas. This is while 6% or 1.06 million of the total jobs in urban areas and 44.1% or 2.56 million of the jobs in rural areas were in the agriculture sector.
The total Q3 employment rate was 37.3% (23.4 million), down 0.2% compared with the same quarter of the last Iranian year. Employment rates for men and women were 63.5% and 11.1%, respectively, which constituted 20 million men and 3.5 million women in Q3.
Employment rate was 36.5% (17.72 million people) in urban areas and 40% (5.81 million) in rural areas.
The share of employment of university graduates stood at 25.8% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment rates were 22.2% and 46.5%, respectively. In urban and rural areas, graduate employment rates stood at 31.5% and 8.7% of the total number of job-holders, respectively.
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.
Q3 statistics show that 37.4% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 0.5% increase over the same period of last year.
