Iran Internship Plan Helps Graduates Create Jobs

Iranian Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei said on Wednesday 60,000 people have enrolled in the state-run Internship Action Plan.

"The ministry aims to create 150,000 jobs annually for university graduates under the plan," he added.

According to Alaeddin Azvaji, an official with the ministry, the plan targets university graduates of ages 23 to 32 in all majors as well as employers and centers willing to hire interns, Mehr News Agency reported.

Noting that the plan was piloted in eight provinces last year (March 2016-17) and will be launched in other provinces this year, the official said, “Both job-seekers and potential employers need to submit their information on the official portal at https://karvarzi.mcls.gov.ir/. The ministry will introduce job applicants to economic entities based on a set of specifications and priorities as well as the economic entities’ job vacancies.”

The internship program will last from four to six months and the interns will be paid one-third of the minimum wage for the current fiscal year (March 2017-18), which now stands at 9.3 million rials ($244.7) per month.

Azvaji noted that employers make no commitment to hire interns that complete the internship program but last year’s reports show about 70% of the interns were employed by companies.

“To boost the chances of interns’ hiring, the government will pay 100% share of employers’ insurance premiums for two years,” he concluded.

Iran’s unemployment rate in the last fiscal year stood at 12.4%, registering a 1.4% rise compared with the previous year, the latest report by the Statistical Center of Iran shows.

The new data indicate 3.2 million Iranians were unemployed last year, of whom 10.5% were men (or 2.19 million) and 20.7% were women (or 1.01 million) of ages 10 and above.