Iran Unemployment Rises to 12.2% (Jun-Sep 2018)

A total of 3,326,000 Iranians were unemployed in the second quarter, the latest report by the Statistical Center of Iran shows.

Women's unemployment stood at 19.8% while for men it hovered around 10.3%, as over 2.25 million men and 1.07 million women of ages 10 and above were jobless in the second quarter.  

The unemployment rate was 13.8% for urban areas (2.79 million people) and 7.6% for rural areas (535,724 people), according to Financial Tribune.

The SCI put Q2 labor force participation rate, i.e. the proportion of the population of ages 10 years and above that is economically active either employed or looking for work, at 40.9% (27.28 million people), which shows a 0.2% rise year-on-year. 

Men’s and women’s economic participation rates stood at 65.3% and 16.3% respectively in Q2. 

According to SCI, 21.86 million of men and 5.41 million of women were economically active in summer, meaning they were either employed or looking for job.

SCI provides two figures for youth unemployment rate: the proportion of the population between the ages of 15 and 24, and those between the ages of 15 and 29.   

The youth unemployment rate of the ages of 15 and 24 stood at 27.2% in Q2, registering a 0.3% increase, while the unemployment rate of those between 15 and 29 years stood at 24.9%, which shows a 0.8% rise compared with the same period of last year. 

Underemployment, the condition in which people in a labor force are employed for less than 44 hours of work per week, constituted 10% of the country’s population and was higher among men and those living in rural areas. The underemployment rate of men and women stood at 11.1% and 5.3% respectively, while the underemployment rate was 8.9% for urban areas and 13% for rural areas in summer. 

Some 41% of country’s job holders worked 49 hours or more per week, registering an increase of 0.2% YOY.

The share of unemployment for those with higher education from the total rate of unemployment was put at 39.5% in Q2, which indicates an increase of 0.1% compared with the second quarter of last year. The unemployment rates of male and female graduates stood at 27.7% and 64.2% respectively.

Higher education unemployment rates were 42.2% in urban areas and 25.1% in rural areas during the period.  

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 work-time arrangement.

The total employment rate of Q2 was 35.9% (23.95 million). The rates for men and women were at 58.6% and 13% respectively, that is 19.61 million men and 4.34 million women were employed in summer. 

The employment rate in urban areas was 34.5% (17.39 million) and 40% (6.55 million) in rural areas.

The employment rate of university graduates stood at 23.8% of the total employed population. Male and female graduate employment was at 20.3% and 39.3% respectively. 

Graduate employment rates in urban and rural areas stood at 30.1% and 6.9% of the total population of job-holders. 

Sectoral Picture

The services sector employed 49.5% of the Iranian employed population (11.85 million), 0.1% more than the same quarter of last year. The industrial and agricultural sectors accounted for 31.6% and 18.9% of the employed population. 

Over 7.56 million were employed in the industrial sector—0.1% fewer than in the same period of last year—and 4.53 million worked in the agriculture sector, posting no change year-on-year. 

The services sector employed 9.56 million men and 2.29 million women in summer. Over 6.46 million men and 1.09 million women were working in the industrial sector and 3.58 million men and 955,325 women worked in the agriculture sector in Q2. 

The services sector accounted for 59.3% or 10.31 million of all jobs in urban areas and 23.5% or 1.53 million of the jobs in rural areas. The industrial sector made up 34% or 5.91 million of all jobs in urban areas and 25.2% or 1.65 million of rural employment. 

Meanwhile, 6.7% or 1.16 million of the total jobs in urban areas and 51.4% or 3.36 million of jobs in rural areas were in the agriculture sector.  

Provincial Picture

Hamedan Province filed the lowest unemployment rate of 6.5% among all Iranian provinces in Q2 while Kermanshah Province had the highest unemployment rate of 16.4%. 

Tehran Province, wherein lies the capital city, registered a 13.3% unemployment rate.

Nine provinces, namely Hamedan (6.5%), Zanjan (7.1%), Semnan (7.1%), Ardabil (7.5%), Fars (8.7%), South Khorasan (8.9%), Golestan (8.9%), Markazi Province (9.6%) and North Khorasan (9.8%) registered single-digit unemployment rates in spring.

The highest labor force participation rate (46.8%) was in North Khorasan and lowest labor force participation rate (34.1%) was in Sistan-Baluchestan, whereas Tehran registered a 39.9% participation rate in Q2.  

North Khorasan registered the highest employment rate of 42.2% while Sistan-Baluchestan filed the lowest employment rate of 28.9% in Q2 among all Iranian provinces.