The services sector employed 51.2% of the Iranian employed population (12.08 million) in the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21), 2.4% higher than the corresponding period of last year, whereas industrial and agricultural sectors provided 32.7% and 16% of the jobs respectively.
According to the Statistical Center of Iran, more than 7.71 million were employed in the industrial sector, indicating an increase of 0.5% year-on-year and 3.78 million worked in the agriculture sector, posting a 1.9% 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 sector employed 9.86 million men and 2.21 million women in the three-month period, such that 6.85 million men and 857,655 women were working in the industrial sector and 3.18 million men and 606,817 women worked in the agriculture sector.
Services accounted for 59.6% or 10.55 million of all jobs in urban areas and 26% or 1.53 million of jobs in rural areas. The industrial sector made up 34.2% or 6.05 million of the jobs in urban areas and comprised 28.2% or 1.66 million of employment in rural areas.
This is while 6.1% or 1.08 million of the total jobs in urban areas and 45.8% or 2.7 million of the jobs in rural areas were in the agriculture sector.
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 total Q1 employment rate was 37.7% (23.58 million), down 0.6% compared with the same quarter of the last Iranian year. Employment rates for men and women were 63.9% and 11.6%, respectively, which constituted 19.9 million men and 36.81 million women in Q1.
Employment rate was 36.1% (17.68 million people) in urban areas and 40.7% (5.9 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 46.8%, respectively. In urban and rural areas, graduate employment rates stood at 32.5% and 8.9% of the total number of job-holders, respectively.
