TEHRAN – The Iranian government has prepared plans for creating 1.85 million new jobs in the country until March 2023, labor minister Hojatollah Abdolmaleki said on Thursday.

A target had been set for both public and private sectors to create some 1.85 million new jobs until the end of the next Iranian calendar year, Abdolmaleki said in a high-profile meeting of the Iranian Government’s Supreme Council of Employment (SCE) led by President Ebrahim Raisi.

The Iranian administration is to implement a new employment charter which could increase the level of coordination between various government departments as they seek to create new jobs in the country, IRIB reported. 

Raisi said in the SCE meeting that there was a need for an overhaul in the Iranian government’s labor policies.

He said that the government’s policy would be to provide more support for Iran’s private sectors and for the entrepreneurs to help expand the job market in Iran.

The SCE had adopted 20 pieces of legislation in the meeting to facilitate job creation in Iran.

Joblessness rate on the rise

The latest employment report released by the Statistical Center reflects the growing trend of unemployment in Iran.

This summer (June 22-September 22), the working population amounted to 62,976,422 people (all people between 15 and 65 years old), which shows that their number has increased by about 709,000 compared to last summer.

However, the active population accounted for 25,900,000 people, whose number has decreased by 0.7 percent compared to last summer. Among the active population, more than 23.4 million people were employed, which has declined by 0.6 percent compared to last summer, a difference of more than 130,000 employees.

The latest employment report released by the Statistical Center reflects the growing trend of unemployment in Iran. There were 2,496,086 unemployed people in the country during summer, showing an increase of 0.1 percent compared to last summer when the number of unemployed was 2,477,350. So, the unemployment rate has risen from 9.5 to 9.6 percent.

During the spring (March 21- June 21), the active population was estimated at 25,967,000 people, the unemployed were about 2,291,604 people and the unemployment rate was 8.8 percent. Also, the number of employees was 23,676,000, demonstrating an increase of 713,000 people.

Overall, what has happened shows a decrease in the active population over the last two years.

Iran’s unemployment rate has been above 10 percent for the last 10 years, and this rate is estimated to have peaked in 2014, when estimates reached 14 percent, according to Statista website.

In 2020, Iran's unemployment rate was estimated to amount to 10.96 percent of the total labor force.

The country’s economy has also been in a recession, which has exacerbated the difficulties to meet the employment demands of its inhabitants.

In times of a struggling economy, it is typically more difficult to create jobs and introduce people to the labor force.

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