Services Grows 4.8% in H1

The services sector grew by 4.8% in the first half of the current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22) compared with last year’s corresponding period, new data released by the Statistical center of Iran show.
The sector grew by in the first fiscal quarter (March 21-June 21).
Noting that services showed distinct signs of recovery after it was hit hard by Covid-19 pandemic in the first quarter of last year (registering a 2.5% contraction), the report attributes the expansion mainly to the subsectors of “transportation and warehousing”, “health and social work”, “wholesale, retail and auto repair”, “information and communications” and “professional, scientific and vocational”.
The services sector employed 48.8% of the Iranian employed population (11.43 million) in the second quarter of the current Iranian year (June 22-Sept. 22), 0.7% higher than the corresponding period of last year. 
The services sector consists of wholesale and retail trade; restaurants and hotels; transport, storage and communications; financing, insurance, real-estate and business services; as well as community, social, education, health and personal services.
The services sector employed 9.44 million men and 1.99 million women in Q2. 
Services sector accounted for 57.5% or 10.04 million of all jobs in urban areas and 23.3% or 1.38 million of jobs in rural areas.