Iran's Q2 Unemployment Rate at 9.6%

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s unemployment rate, the proportion of jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9.6% in the second quarter of the current Iranian year (June 22-Sept. 22), indicating a 0.1% decline compared with the same period of last year.

News ID: ۷۸۷۰۹۵

02 October 2021

According to a new report by the Statistical Center of Iran, a total of 2,496,086 Iranians were unemployed in Q2. Men’s unemployment stood at 8.1% while the rate for women hovered around 17.7%.

Over 1.74 million men and 751,239 women of ages 15 and above were jobless in Q2.

The unemployment rate was 10.7% for urban areas (2.08 million people) and 6.5% for rural areas (411,930 people).

Labor Force Participation, Youth Unemployment

SCI put Q2 labor force participation rate — the proportion of the population of ages 15 and above that is economically active either employed or looking for a job — at 41.1% or 25.9 million people, registering a 0.7% decrease year-on-year.

Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 68.8% and 13.5% respectively in the same period.

A total of 21.66 million men and 4.24 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active in Q2, i.e., they were either employed or looking for a job.

The center provides two figures for the youth unemployment rate: the proportion of the population between 15 and 24 years and those between 18 and 35 years.

The youth unemployment rate of those between 15 and 24 years stood at 25.7% in Q2, posting a 2.6% increase while the unemployment rate of those between 18 and 35 years stood at 17.6%, posting a growth of 0.7% YOY.

Underemployment, Graduate Unemployment, Employment

Underemployment, the condition in which people in a labor force are employed for less than 44 hours of service per week, stood at 9.5%, up 0.2% year-on-year and was higher for men and those living in rural areas.

The Q2 underemployment rate for men and women stood at 10.4% and 4.2%, respectively, while it was 8.6% for urban areas and 12.1% for rural areas.

Unemployment rate for university graduates stood at 14.4% in Q2, posting a 0.5% decrease YOY. Higher education unemployment rate for men stood at 9.7% and that of women stuck around 25%.

The share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 40.6% in Q2, which indicate a decrease of 0.1% year-on-year.

The unemployment shares of male and female graduates from the total unemployed population stood at 27.2% and 71.6%, respectively, while the share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 43.2% in urban areas and 27.2% 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 working-time arrangement.

The total Q2 employment rate was 37.2% (23.4 million), down 0.6% compared with the same quarter of the last Iranian year. Employment rates for men and women were 63.3% and 11.1%, respectively, which constituted 19.91 million men and 3.49 million women in Q2.

Employment rate was 36.1% (17.48 million people) in urban areas and 40.7% (5.93 million) in rural areas.

The share of employment of university graduates stood at 25.6% of the total employed population, wherein male and female graduate employment rates were 22.1% and 46.1%, respectively. Graduate employment rates in urban and rural areas stood at 31.3% and 8.9% of the total number of job-holders, respectively.

Q2 statistics show that 36.5% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 0.5% increase over the same period of last year.

Sectoral Review

The services sector employed 48.8% of the Iranian employed population (11.43 million), 0.7% higher than the corresponding period of last year, whereas industrial and agricultural sectors provided 33.8% and 17.4% of jobs respectively.

Over 7.9 million were employed in the industrial sector, indicating an increase of 0.4% year-on-year and 4.06 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 9.44 million men and 1.99 million women in the three-month period, such that 7.07 million men and 835,726 women were working in the industrial sector and 3.39 million men and 665,660 women worked in the agriculture sector in Q2.

Services accounted for 57.5% or 10.04 million of all jobs in urban areas and 23.3% or 1.38 million of jobs in rural areas. The industrial sector made up 35.4% or 6.18 million of the jobs in urban areas and comprised 29.1% or 1.72 million of employment in rural areas. This is while 7.1% or 1.24 million of the total jobs in urban areas and 47.6% or 2.82 million of the jobs in rural areas were in the agriculture sector.

Provincial Review

Qazvin Province filed the lowest unemployment rate of 6.2% among all Iranian provinces in Q2 while Hormozgan registered the highest unemployment rate of 18.2%.

Tehran Province, wherein lies the capital city, registered an 8.9% unemployment rate.

Thirteen provinces, namely Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad (10.2%), Bushehr (10.5%), Kerman (11.1%), Sistan-Baluchestan (11.2%), North Khorasan (11.4%), Gilan (11.6%), Lorestan (11.8%), Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari (12.4%), Isfahan (12.6%), Yazd (13.6%), Kermanshah (14%), Khuzestan (14.3%) and Hormozgan (18.2%), registered double-digit unemployment rates for people of ages 15 and above in Q2.

Yazd had the highest labor force participation rate (48.5%) and Sistan-Baluchestan had the lowest labor force participation rate (33.4%), whereas Tehran registered a 41.5% participation rate in Q2.

Zanjan registered the highest employment rate of 43.7% while Sistan-Baluchestan filed the lowest employment rate of 29.7% among all Iranian provinces. Tehran’s employment rate stood at 37.9%.