Iran’s labor market suffers from a very low participation of women, data released by the Statistical Center of Iran confirm.
Women’s economic participation rate stood at only 13.8% in the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21), the Statistical Center of Iran reported.
This means only 13.8% of all Iranian women (4.39 million) of ages 15 and above were either employed or looking for a job.
In contrast, the labor force participation rate for men stood at 68% (21.59 million) during the same period.
Overall, the Q1 economic participation rate was at 40.9% and registered a 0.5% year-on-year decrease, SCI reported on its website.
According to the center, a total of 2.6 people were either employed or looking for work in Q1.
The unemployment rate was also significantly higher for women during the period.
According to SCI, Iran’s unemployment rate, the proportion of the jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9.2% in Q1, 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%.
Notably, the unemployment shares of male and female graduates from the total unemployed population stood at 27.1% and 69.8%, respectively.
The same difference exists vis-a-vis employment, which 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.
The unemployment shares of male and female graduates from the total unemployed population in Q1 stood at 27.1% and 69.8%, respectively
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.
SCI’s sectoral breakdown of Q1 labor market indicates that the services sector employed 9.86 million men and 2.21 million women during the period.
A total of 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.
The World Economic Forum released a report earlier this month. The report, which measures women’s economic participation, level of education, health and political survival, shows Iran ranks among the bottom five in the global Gender Gap Index for 2022, dragged down by the lack of opportunities for women.
Afghanistan is the last of 146 countries in the index, while Pakistan is only one place better at 145th place, the report says. Iran is ranked 143rd.
Iceland, Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden top the list.
Moldova (16) and Albania (18) were ranked among the top 20.
“In 2022, amid multi-layered and compounding crises, including the rising cost of living, the ongoing pandemic, the climate emergency and large-scale conflict and displacement, the progress toward gender parity is stalling. As leaders tackle a growing series of economic and political shocks, the risk of reversal is intensifying. Not only are millions of women and girls losing out on access and opportunity at present; this halt in progress toward parity is a catastrophe for the future of our economies, societies and communities. Accelerating parity must be a core part of the public and private agenda,” Saadia Zahidi, the managing director of the World Economic Forum prefaced the Global Gender Gap Report 2022.
“While more women have been moving into paid work over the last decades and, increasingly, into leadership positions in industry, there have been continued headwinds: societal expectations, employer policies, the legal environment and the availability of care infrastructure. This has continued to limit the educational opportunities women access as well as the career possibilities they can pursue. The economic and social consequences of the pandemic and geopolitical conflict have paused progress and worsened outcomes for women and girls around the world – and risk creating permanent scarring in the labor market. Conversely, the increasing representation of women in leadership in a number of industries, engagement in tertiary education overall and rebound in professional and technical roles are encouraging and may provide a basis for future efforts.”
