TEHRAN – A total fund of 120 trillion rials (nearly $2.7 billion) has been earmarked for granting job creation loans to the people in rural areas nationwide, labor ministry’s caretaker has said.

“Measures taken to boost job creation in rural areas, including providing facilities and generating sustainable jobs have been efficient to some extent, as rural population in some provinces of the country is on the rise,” IRNA quoted Anooshirvan Mohseni Bandpei as saying on Friday.

One of the main projects is to facilitate internship courses for the educated young people in rural areas, to both help university graduated youth and provide human resources for enterprises which are active in these areas, he highlighted. 

According to the aforesaid project, some 3 million rials (about $61) is paid to interns per month, and if an enterprise attracts an intern, the government will pay the employer's insurance up to two years, he added.

He went on to say that it is scheduled to generate some 900,000 new jobs during this year.

The deputy vice-president for rural development and deprived areas Abolfazl Razavi in late August said that while some 60 percent of migrations from rural to urban areas are caused by the lack of appropriate jobs and sufficient income for educated people, the government is intent on reversing migration, as a total of 180,000 sustainable jobs have been created in rural areas last year (March 2017-March 2018), and also some 100,000 jobs in the current year.

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