Iran's Q1 Jump in Jobs Under Scrutiny

The Iranian economy generated 321,000 jobs in the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21), indicating a 0.1% growth compared with the same period of last year, the Statistical Center of Iran announced in its latest report.
The unemployment rate, the proportion of jobless population of ages 10 years and above, stood at 10.8% in Q1, indicating a 1.3% decrease year-on-year, despite the shrinkage of gross domestic product by 4.9% last year.
However, Hojjatollah Mirzaei, former deputy mayor of Tehran for planning and urban development, believes that quarterly unemployment data do not provide a complete picture of labor market since there are several local and regional variables that can influence the outcome of the reporting process, the Persian weekly Tejarat-e Farda reported.