40% of Jobless Are Graduates

University graduates accounted for 40% of the unemployed in the last Iranian year (March 2022-23), according to the Statistical Center of Iran.
The center says the percentage indicates a slight fall of 0.3% compared with the year before. 
The unemployment rate for university graduates stood at 12.9%, posting a 0.7% fall, SCI added.
Higher education unemployment rate for men stood at 8.9% and that of women stuck around 21.9%.  
The unemployment shares of male and female graduates from the total unemployed population stood at 27.1% and 71%, respectively.
The share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 42.9% in urban areas and 26.1% in rural areas.  
Iran’s overall unemployment rate, the proportion of the jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9% in the last Iranian year (ended March 20), indicating a 0.2% decrease compared with the previous year.
A total of 2.34 million Iranians were unemployed in the fiscal 2022-23. 
Men’s unemployment stood at 7.7% while the rate for women hovered around 15.8%. 
Over 1.66 million men and 685,780 women of ages 15 and above were jobless in the fiscal 2022-23.   
The unemployment rate was 9.7% for urban areas (1.93 million people) and 6.7% for rural areas (415,458 people).
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 22.6% in the fiscal 2022-23, posting a 1.1% decrease while the unemployment rate of those between 18 and 35 years stood at 16.3%, posting a decline of 0.2% compared with the year before.
The SCI data also show the share of employment of university graduates stood at 26.7% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment rates were 23% and 47.5%, respectively. 
In urban and rural areas, graduate employment rates stood at 32.5% and 8.8% 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.
The overall employment rate was 37.2% (23.71 million) in the fiscal 2022-23, unchanged compared with the year before. Employment rates for men and women were 63% and 11.4%, respectively, which constituted 20.06 million men and 3.65 million women in the year under review. 
The employment rate was 36.4% (17.94 million people) in urban areas and 39.9% (5.77 million) in rural areas. 
According to SCI, 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 — stood at 40.9% or 26.06 million people in the last Iranian year, showing no change compared with the year before. 
Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 68.7% and 13.6% respectively.
A total of 21.72 million men and 4.33 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in the fiscal 2022-23, i.e., they were either employed or looking for a job.

Human Capital Flight

Noting that the salary of graduate job-seekers in Iran is significantly lower that in many developed countries, Feryal Mostofi, a member of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, says human capital is the most important asset of Iran.
“Seventy percent of the country’s 85 million people are young. They are skilled and educated [Iran’s literacy rate is 89.7% and 20 million Iranian people have studied in universities]. According to the Global Innovation Index, Iran ranks second among the Central and South Asian economies after India. It comes in ninth in the world in university education and third in the percentage of science and engineering graduates,” she wrote for the news portal of the chamber.
“Factors such as higher levels of youth and university graduates unemployment show Iran’s workforce capacity for global participation and foreign investment.”
Hossein Abbasi, a lecturer in the Department of Economics of the University of Maryland, says statistics of the Iranian migration yearbook show that a large number of people are eager to migrate. 
“About half of the students and graduates have initiated their migration process, or are planning to pursue it. Fifteen percent also want to emigrate, but have not done anything yet. Among people who are employed, such as entrepreneurs, managers and employees, the percentage of people who want to migrate is almost the same but most of them have not taken any step toward their goal. Less than 20% of people said that they have no desire to migrate. In addition, among Iranian immigrants and those who have expressed their desire to emigrate, more than 80% have decided not to return and only a small fraction said they would definitely return,” he wrote for the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad.