The services sector employed 49.8% of the Iranian employed population (11.69 million) in the fiscal 2021-22 (ended March 20), 0.5% higher year-on-year whereas industrial and agricultural sectors provided 33.8% and 16.3% of jobs respectively, according to the Statistical Center of Iran.
Over 7.93 million were employed in the industrial sector, indicating an increase of 0.5% year-on-year while 3.83 million worked in agriculture, posting a 1.1% decrease YOY.
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 sector employed 9.67 million men and 2.02 million women in the year under review, such that 7.04 million men and 888,581 women were working in the industrial sector and 3.22 million men and 605,501 women worked in the agriculture sector.
Services accounted for 58.4% or 10.27 million of all jobs in urban areas and 24.2% or 1.42 million of all jobs in rural areas. The industrial sector made up 35.2% or 6.2 million of the jobs in urban areas and comprised 29.5% or 1.73 million of employment in rural areas.
This is while 6.4% or 1.12 million of the total jobs in urban areas and 46.2% or 2.71 million of the jobs in rural areas were in the agriculture sector.
The total fiscal 2021-22 employment rate was 37.2% (23.45 million), down 0.1% compared with the previous Iranian year. Employment rates for men and women were 63.3% and 11.1%, respectively, which constituted 19.93 million men and 35.15 million women in the fiscal 2021-22.
The employment rate was 36.3% (17.6 million people) in urban areas and 40.2% (5.85 million) in rural areas.
The share of employment of university graduates stood at 25.8% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment rates were 22.2% and 46.4%, respectively. In urban and rural areas, graduate employment rates stood at 31.5% and 8.7% 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.
Fiscal 2021-22 statistics show that 37.8% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 1.3% increase YOY.
