Iran Statistics Center Claims: Unemployment Rate Reached 8.8% in Spring

The Iran Statistics Center has released a report claiming that the country’s unemployment rate in spring of this year decreased by approximately 1 percent compared to spring of last year, reaching 8.8 percent.

The Iran Statistics Center had also reported last July that despite nearly 1.5 million jobs being lost in the country between spring 1398 and the same season in 1399, the unemployment rate decreased by 1.1 percent and reached 9.8 percent.

The Parliamentary Research Center rejected the Statistics Center’s report last year, stating that the spring 1399 unemployment rate announced by the government at 9.8 percent is not accurate, and the actual unemployment rate was 24 percent, which is 2.5 times higher than the government’s reported figure.

In unemployment rate calculation formulas, unemployed individuals who are not seeking work are not counted. For this reason, the Parliamentary Research Center stated that a vast number of people who were looking for work have abandoned their job search due to their inability to find employment. If these individuals are included in the statistics, the actual unemployment rate would be 24 percent.

Recently, the International Monetary Fund also assessed Iran’s unemployment rate at 23 percent.

The Iran Statistics Center has recently blocked access to its data and statistics for internet users outside the country. However, details published by ISNA news agency from the Statistics Center’s new report indicate that in spring of this year, more than 499,000 people were added to the economically active population (employed and job-seeking), and 713,000 people were added to the employed population.

This report does not explain how the growth in employed persons was significantly higher than the growth in the economically active population (employed and job-seeking).

Source: Radio Farda