Zanjan Province saw the lowest unemployment rate of 6.5% among all Iranian provinces in the fiscal 2021-22 (ended March 20), while Hormozgan registered the highest unemployment rate of 15.8%, according to the Statistical Center of Iran.
Eleven provinces, namely Ardabil (10.3%), Isfahan (10.6%), Kerman (11.2%), Kurdestan (11.7%), Yazd (11.8%), Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari (12.3%), West Azarbaijan (12.4%), Lorestan (12.5%), Khuzestan (12.6%), Kermanshah (14.9%) and Hormozgan (15.8%), registered double-digit unemployment rates for people of ages 15 and above in the fiscal 2021-22.
Yazd had the highest labor force participation rate (47.8%) and Ilam had the lowest labor force participation rate (34.1%), whereas Tehran registered a 41.1% participation rate in the fiscal 2021-22.
Zanjan registered the highest employment rate of 42.5% while Ilam filed the lowest employment rate of 31.6% among all Iranian provinces.
Tehran’s employment rate stood at 38.1%.
At the country level, Iran’s overall unemployment rate, the proportion of the jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9.2% in the fiscal 2021-22, indicating a 0.4% year-on-year decline.
A total of 2.4 million Iranians were unemployed in the fiscal 2021-22.
Men’s unemployment stood at 7.9% while the rate for women hovered around 16%.
Over 1.7 million men and 669,341 women of ages 15 and above were jobless during the year under review.
The unemployment rate was 9.9% for urban areas (1.94 million people) and 6.9% for rural areas (435,094 people).
SCI put the fiscal 2021-22 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% or 2.58 million people, registering a 0.4% decrease year-on-year.
Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 68.7% and 13.3% respectively in the same period.
A total of 21.64 million men and 4.18 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in the fiscal 2021-22, i.e., they were either employed or looking for a job.
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 23.7% in the fiscal 2021-22, unchanged year-on-year while the unemployment rate of those between 18 and 35 years stood at 16.5%, posting a decline of 0.2% YOY.
Fiscal 2021-22 statistics show that 37.8% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 1.3% increase YOY.
The total fiscal 2021-22 employment rate was 37.2% (23.45 million), down 0.1% compared with the previous Iranian year. Employment rates for men and women were 63.3% and 11.1%, respectively, which constituted 19.93 million men and 35.15 million women.
The employment rate was 36.3% (17.6 million people) in urban areas and 40.2% (5.85 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 46.4%, 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.
