The Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare surveyed 1.9 million unemployed, from the nearly 3.3 million unemployed in the last fiscal year (2018-19), who held a job for 10 years and more, but became jobless in the past five years.
The ministry’s Statistics and Strategic Data Center, using data provided by the Statistical Center of Iran, declared that 22.6% of the employed left their jobs last year because of the temporary nature of their work, 16.8% due to low pay and 16.6% over layoffs or downsizing.
The same three factors were to blame widely for Iranian workers quitting or losing their jobs in the year before, i.e. the fiscal 2017-18 with 25%, 16.3% and 14% shares respectively.
Other reasons behind people leaving their jobs last year include the permanent closure of the workplace (7.7%), seasonal nature of the job (5.1%), family issues (2.6%), illness (1.8%), relocation (0.6%), education (0.4%), migration (0.4%) and retirement (0.3%).
Unemployment Rate at 12%
Iran’s unemployment rate, the proportion of jobless population of ages 10 years and above, stood at 12% in the last Iranian year (March 2018-19), indicating a 0.1% rise compared with the year before (March 2017-18).
A total of 3,260,796 Iranians were unemployed last year, according to the Statistical Center of Iran's latest report.
The unemployment rate for men stood at 10.4% while women joblessness hovered around 18.9%.
Over 2.25 million men and 1.01 million women of ages 10 and above were jobless last year.
The unemployment rate was 13.5% for urban areas (2.7 million people) and 7.9% for rural areas (553,883 people).
SCI has put last year’s labor force participation rate—the proportion of the population of ages 10 years and above that is economically active either employed or looking for work—at 40.5% or 27.07 million people, registering a 0.4% rise year-on-year.
Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 64.8% and 16.1% respectively last year.
According to SCI, 21.71 million of men and 5.35 million of women ages 10 and above were economically active last year; that is they were either employed or looking for job.
SCI provides two figures for the youth unemployment rate: the proportion of the population between 15 and 24 years and those between the ages of 15 and 29.
The youth unemployment rate of those between 15 and 24 years, stood at 27.7% last year, posting a 0.5% decrease while the unemployment rate of those between 15 and 29 stood at 25.1%, posting no change compared with the previous year.
Underemployment, the condition in which people in a labor force are employed for less than 44 hours of service per week, stood at 10.8% and was higher among men compared to women and among those living in rural areas.
The underemployment rate of men and women stood at 12% and 5.8%, respectively, while the underemployment rate was 9.4% for urban areas and 14.6% for rural areas last year.
Some 38.3% of country’s job holders worked 49 hours or more per week, registering a decline of 0.7% YOY.
The share of higher education from the total rate of unemployment was measured at 38.5% last year, which indicates an increase of 1.4% YOY.
The unemployment rates of male and female graduates stood at 26.1% and 65.9%, respectively while higher education unemployment rates were 41.4% in urban areas and 23.9% in rural areas during the period under review.
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 employment rate of last year was 35.6% (23.81 million). Men and women employment rates were 58.1% and 13%, respectively, as 19.46 million men and 4.34 million women were employed last year. The employment rate was 34.4% or 17.38 million in urban areas and 39.2% or 6.43 million in rural areas.
The employment rate of university graduates stood at 23.9% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment rates were 20.4% and 39.2%, respectively.
Graduate employment rates in urban and rural areas stood at 30% and 7.2% of the total population of job-holders.
More People Becoming Self-Employed, Employer
Over the last Iranian year (2018-19), 53.9% of the total employed population were those working for the private sector, cooperatives or public sector while 46.1% of the employed population were employers, self-employed or those who worked for a family member without pay.
Men accounted for 81% and women constituted only 19% of all the jobs of the former group, the Labor Ministry's Statistics and Strategic Data Center's report also shows.
The share of people employed in the private sector, cooperatives or public sector have been on the decline between 2016 and 2019. In the fiscal 2016-17, about 55% of the total number of job-holders were working for the private sector, cooperatives or public sector, which dropped to 54.8% in the fiscal 2017-18 and 53.9% in the fiscal 2018-19.
The percentage of employers, self-employed or those working for a family member without pay increased from 45% in the fiscal 2016-17 to 45.2% in the fiscal 2017-18 to 46.1% last year.
How Job Seekers Land a Job?
The report also shows asking friends or acquaintances has been the most popular way among unemployed persons to land a job in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2019) with a 33.9% share.
Registering with non-governmental employment agencies with 21%, taking out or responding to classified newspaper ads with 16.7% and contacting an employer with 16.1% constituted other methods pursued successfully by job seekers last year.
