SCI Sizes Up Iran’s Official Jobs Market

EghtesadOnline: The Statistical Center of Iran has released data on Iran’s official job market in the current Iranian year (started March 21).

News ID: ۷۸۷۲۸۴

09 November 2021

According to the findings, 59.9% of the employed population ages 15 and above were holding jobs in the official sector of the economy in 2020-21, indicating a 0.8% increase year-on-year.

In some developing countries such as Turkey and Brazil, the share stands at 71.1% and 67% compared with 36.9% and 48.3% in Egypt and Indonesia, respectively.

The employed population in the official sector was 13.94 million people in the year ending March 2021, 397,000 fewer compared to the previous year.

A total of 71.8% of the employed population working in the services sector, 54.7% of those in the industrial sector and 36.4% of those in the agriculture sector were working in the official sector of the economy in 2020-21.

The report also shows 42% of the employed population held official jobs during the year under review, registering a 1.3% rise YOY.

Latest figures show this share stands at 68.6% in Turkey, 52.9% in Brazil, 35.4% in Egypt and 19.6% in Indonesia.

Of the literate employed population ages 15 and above, 43.8% were holding official jobs in the fiscal 2020-21, compared with 15.8% of the illiterate employed population ages 15 and above.

The percentage of those holding jobs in the official sector of the economy was 99.1% while 66% of the employed population held unofficial jobs in the informal economy.

Unemployment Reported at 9.6%

Iran’s unemployment rate, the proportion of jobless population of ages 15 and above, stood at 9.6% in the last Iranian year (March 2020-21), indicating a 1.1% decline compared with the year before.

According to the latest report of the Statistical Center of Iran, a total of 2,474,063 Iranians were unemployed last year. Men’s unemployment stood at 8.4% while the rate for women hovered around 15.6%. Over 1.79 million men and 678,399 women of ages 15 and above were jobless last year.

The unemployment rate was 10.4% for urban areas (two million people) and 7.2% for rural areas (464,726 people).

SCI put last year’s labor force participation rate — the proportion of the population of ages 15 and above that is economically active either employed or looking for job — at 41.3% or 25.73 million people, registering a 2.8% decrease year-on-year.

Men’s and women’s economic participation rates were 68.7% and 13.9% respectively in the same period, down 2.4% and 3.1% YOY.

SCI reports that 21.4 million men and 4.33 million women of ages 15 and above were economically active last year, 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 23.7% last year, posting a 2.3% decrease while the unemployment rate of those between 18 and 35 years stood at 16.7%, posting a decline of 1.2% YOY.

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%, down 0.4% year-on-year and was higher for men and those living in rural areas.

Last year’s underemployment rate for men and women stood at 10.4% and 4.2%, respectively, while it was 8.2% for urban areas and 13.2% for rural areas.

Unemployment rate for university graduates stood at 14.2%, posting a 2.5% decrease YOY. Higher education unemployment rate for men stood at 10.4% and that of women stuck around 22.8%.

The share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population was 38.9% last year, which indicates a decrease of 2.7% YOY.

The unemployment shares of male and female graduates from the total unemployed population stood at 27% and 70.4%, respectively, while the share of higher education unemployment from the total unemployed population were 42.1% in urban areas and 25.3% 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.

Last year’s employment rate was 37.3% (23.26 million), down 2.1% year-on-year. Employment rates for men and women were 62.9% and 11.7%, respectively, which constituted 19.6 million men and 3.65 million women.

Employment rate was 36.2% or 17.26 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 21.4% and 44.3%, respectively. Graduate employment rates in urban and rural areas stood at 30.8% and 8.1% of the total population of job-holders.

Last year’s statistics show 34.4% of the country’s labor force worked more than 49 hours per week, indicating a 3.6% decrease over the same period of last year.

Sectoral Review

The services sector employed 49.3% of the Iranian employed population (11.46 million) last year, one percent less than the year before, whereas industrial and agricultural sectors generated 33.3% and 17.4% of jobs respectively.

Over 7.74 million were employed in the industrial sector, indicating an increase of 1.3% and 4.04 million worked in the agriculture sector, posting a 0.3% decrease year-on-year.

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 9.43 million men and 2.03 million women last year; over 6.8 million men and 941,566 women were active in the industrial sector and 3.36 million men and 678,689 women worked in the agriculture sector.

Services sector accounted for 58.7% or 10.11 million of all jobs in urban areas and 24.7% or 1.35 million jobs in rural areas. The industrial sector made up 34.9% or 6.02 million of the jobs in urban areas and comprised 28.7% or 1.72 million of employment in rural areas. This is while 6.5% or 1.12 million of the total jobs in urban areas and 48.6% or 2.91 million of the jobs in rural areas were in the agriculture sector.