SCI: Labor Force Participation Rate Declines by 2.9% in Q3

EghtesadOnline: The Statistical Center of Iran has put labor force participation rate—the proportion of the population of ages 15 and above that is either employed or looking for a job—at 41.4% or 25.84 million people in the third quarter of the current fiscal year (Sept. 22-Dec. 20, 2020), registering a 2.9% year-on-year decrease.

News ID: ۷۸۶۲۳۳

10 March 2021

Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were at 68.8% and 14.1% respectively.

The SCI report shows that 21.45 million men and 4.39 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in Q3, i.e., they were either employed or looking for a job.

The total Q3 employment rate was 37.5% (23.41 million), down 2.1% compared with the same quarter of last Iranian year. Employment rates for men and women were 63.2% and 11.8%, respectively, which constituted 19.72 million men and 3.69 million women in Q3.

The employment rate was 36.4% or 17.41 million in urban areas and 41% or 5.99 million in rural areas.

The share of employment of university graduates stood at 25% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment was 21.6% and 43.6%, respectively. Graduate employment rates in urban and rural areas stood at 30.8% and 8.4% of the total population of job-holders.

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.

Q3 statistics show that 34.2% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 2.3% decrease over the same period of last year.

Iran’s unemployment rate, the proportion of jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9.4% in Q3, indicating a 1.2% decline compared with the same period of last year.

A total of 2,435,717 Iranians were unemployed in Q3. Men’s unemployment stood at 8.1% while the rate for women hovered around 15.9%.

Over 1.73 million men and 700,153 women of ages 15 and above were jobless in Q3.

The unemployment rate was 10.2% for urban areas (1.97 million people) and 7.2% for rural areas (465,111 people).