The share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 39.7% in the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 20-June 21) to register a year-on-year decline of 0.6%, according to the Statistical Center of Iran.
The unemployment shares of male and female graduates from the total unemployed population stood at 27.1% and 69.8%, respectively.
The share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 43.2% in urban areas and 25.7% in rural areas during the period.
The unemployment rate for university graduates stood at 13.2% in Q1, posting a 0.2% YOY decrease.
Higher education unemployment rate for men stood at 9.1% and that of women stuck around 22.3%.
The overall unemployment rate in Iran — the proportion of the jobless population of ages 15 and above — stood at 9.2% in Q1 (spring), indicating a 0.4% year-on-year increase.
A total of 2.4 million Iranians were unemployed in Q1. Men’s unemployment stood at 7.8% while the rate for women hovered around 16.1%.
Over 1.69 million men and 708,085 women of ages 15 and above were jobless in Q1.
The unemployment rate was 10.1% for urban areas (1.99 million people) and 6.4% for rural areas (405,180 people).
Hamedan Province saw the lowest unemployment rate of 6.5% among all Iranian provinces in Q1 while Kermanshah registered the highest unemployment rate of 15.4%.
Nine provinces, namely Kurdestan (10.2%), Yazd and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari (10.6% each), Isfahan (12.3%), Sistan-Baluchestan and Lorestan (12.8% each), Khuzestan (14.1%), Hormozgan (15.3%) and Kermanshah (15.4) registered double-digit unemployment rates for people of ages 15 and above in Q1.
Zanjan had the highest labor force participation rate (47.8%) and Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad had the lowest labor force participation rate (35.7%), whereas Tehran registered a 40.9% participation rate in Q1.
Zanjan registered the highest employment rate of 45.2% while Ilam filed the lowest employment rate of 30.6% among all Iranian provinces. Tehran’s employment rate stood at 37.7%.
The share of employment of university graduates was 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.
The overall 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.
Q1 statistics show that 40.3% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 1.9% increase over the same period of last year.
