Multiple Jobholding on the Rise

EghtesadOnline: The number of people who worked two jobs at the same time rose from 726,000 in the year ending March 2018 to 834,000 in the year ending March 2020, latest data released by the Statistical Center of Iran and the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare show.

News ID: ۷۸۵۹۷۷

13 February 2021

The multiple jobholding rate increased from 3.1% to 3.4% in the two years.

Between 49.4% and 54.4% of multiple jobholders worked at jobs categorized under “agriculture, forestry and fishing” group as their second jobs, while 70.6% were employed in the agriculture sector in the last fiscal year (March 2019-20), which share stood at 66.8% in the year ending March 2018 and 66% in the year ending March 2019, IRNA reported.

Contrary to the popular belief, only 3.2% of multiple job-holders worked as passenger vehicle drivers in the last Iranian year, which share stood at 3.7% in the year ending March 2018 and 4% in the year ending March 2019.

Incidentally, 67.9% of those who worked as ride-hailing drivers chose farming as their secondary occupation in the fiscal 2019-20.

During March 2018-20, multiple jobholders worked between one and 32 hours per week compared with single jobholders who worked 50 hours per week. The average working hours of single jobholders decreased from 46 hours and 50 minutes to 46 hours and 27 minutes. However, the average working hours of multiple jobholders at their primary occupation increased from 39 hours and 26 minutes to 39 hours and 17 minutes.

The multiple jobholding rate for men increased from 3.5% to 3.8% and for women increased from 1.6% to 2% in the past three years.

The age group 35-39 years accounted for the biggest share of single jobholders and the age group of 40-44 years accounted for the lion’s share of multiple jobholders last year.

The illiterate were more engaged in moonlighting: 7.6% of multiple jobholders were illiterate and 3.1% were literate last year. PhD candidates or graduates accounted for the lion’s share of multiple jobholders among the literate population.

The self-employed and managers accounted for the biggest share of multiple jobholders in the years ending March 2018 and March 2020.

Jobless Population at 2.4m, 40% Graduate

The population of the unemployed in Iran currently stands at 2.4 million, 40% of whom are university graduates, according to the director general of Employment and Policymaking Department of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare.

“Over the past year, some one million people were made redundant. More than 730,000 of these are receiving unemployment insurance,” Alaeddin Azvaji was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

“Every year, between 600,000 and 700,000 jobseekers enter the market. The government has been creating around 450,000 jobs per year since the fiscal 2017-18,” he added.

A recent survey conducted by the Social Security Organization Research Institute among over 700,000 applicants of unemployment insurance benefits shows 61.9% of them have been the head of household and 27.1% lived in families with another wage earner.

According to Rouzbeh Kerdouni, the head of the institute, 40.4% of the respondents were women and 59.6% were men.

Noting that 21.2% of the survey participants were single and 72.4% married, he added, “Of those who applied for unemployment benefits and were part of the survey, 22.6% had permanent and 77.4% held temporary contracts with their employer; 86.4% of them had never received benefits before while 76.7% of respondents said they themselves had applied for unemployment insurance.”

The poll also found that 77.1% of the respondents were employed in the services, 1.4% in agriculture and 21.5% in industrial sectors. Seventy-six percent of these people were full-time employees, 24% were paid hourly and 58.2% stated that their employers did not provide them with a copy of their contracts.

Kerdouni said 87.9% of the respondents were receiving government cash subsidies under the Targeted Subsidies Law of 2010 and 54.6% were receiving cash subsidies under the so-called Livelihood Assistance Program.

The Targeted Subsidies Law of 2010 authorized the reduction of food and energy subsidies, and instead allowed the payment of 455,000 rials ($1.8) to each and every Iranian on a monthly basis. The plan has been retained and a majority of Iranians currently receive the monthly cash subsidy.

Cash transfer to people as compensation for higher gasoline prices were granted to 60 million people. They receive cash support worth a total of 24,200 billion rials ($97 million) through the so-called Livelihood Assistance Program launched on Nov. 19, 2019.