The employment rate was 36.6% (23.17 million) in the fourth quarter of last Iranian year (Dec. 22, 2021-March 20), down 0.3% compared with the same quarter of the previous Iranian year, latest data provided by the Statistical Center of Iran show.
Employment rates for men and women were 62.3% and 10.9%, respectively, which constituted 19.72 million men and 3.45 million women. The rate was 36% (17.58 million people) in urban areas and 38.5% (5.59 million) in rural areas.
The share of employment of university graduates stood at 26.6% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment rates were 22.9% and 48.7%, respectively. In urban and rural areas, graduate employment rates stood at 32.2% and 8.9% of the total number of job-holders, respectively.
Q4 statistics show that 36.7% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 1% increase 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.
SCI 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 40.4% or 2.56 million people, registering a 0.5% decrease year-on-year.
Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 68% and 12.8% respectively in the same period.
A total of 21.52 million men and 4.06 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in Q4, i.e., they were either employed or looking for a job.
