Ilam Province registered the lowest unemployment rate of 6.8% among all Iranian provinces in the fourth quarter of the last Iranian year (Dec. 22, 2022-March 20) while Kurdestan registered the highest rate of 20.5%.
Iran’s overall unemployment rate, the proportion of the jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9.7% in Q4, indicating a 0.3% year-on-year increase, according to a new report by the Statistical Center of Iran.
A total of 2.52 million Iranians were unemployed in Q4.
Men’s unemployment stood at 8.5% while the rate for women hovered around 15.7%, such that over 1.85 million men and 670,349 women of ages 15 and above were jobless in Q4.
The unemployment rate was 10.3% for urban areas (2.05 million people) and 7.9% for rural areas (473,818 people).
Twelve provinces, namely Alborz (10.1%), Sistan-Baluchestan and Gilan (each with 10.3%), Ardabil (10.6%), Khuzestan (10.9%), Hormozgan (11.6%), West Azarbaijan (12.1%), Hamedan (12.3%), Lorestan (12.8%), Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari (13.5%), Kermanshah (15.1%) and Kurdestan (20.5%) registered double-digit unemployment rates for people of ages 15 and above in Q4.
Zanjan had the highest labor force participation rate (48.7%) and Ilam had the lowest labor force participation rate (32.3%), whereas Tehran registered a 40.1% participation rate in Q4.
SCI put the overall 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 40.5% or 25.96 million people, registering a 0.1% increase year-on-year.
Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 67.8% and 13.3% respectively in the same period.
A total of 21.7 million men and 4.25 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in Q4, i.e., they were either employed or looking for a job.
Zanjan registered the highest employment rate of 44.6% while Ilam filed the lowest employment rate of 30.1% among all Iranian provinces. Tehran’s employment rate stood at 36.9%.
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 Q4 employment rate was 36.6% (23.43 million), unchanged compared with the same quarter of the last Iranian year. Employment rates for men and women were 62% and 11.2%, respectively, which constituted 19.84 million men and 3.45 million women in Q4.
Employment rate was 36.1% (17.91 million people) in urban areas and 38.2% (5.52 million) in rural areas.
The share of employment of university graduates stood at 27.4% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment rates were 22.9% and 49.7%, respectively. In urban and rural areas, graduate employment rates stood at 33.2% and 8.9% of the total number of job-holders, respectively.
Q4 statistics show that 35.6% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 1.1% decrease over the same period of last year.
