Tehran, Iran, Sept. 5
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the ministry tries its best to help create job opportunities in the country.
"During the past 8 years some 600-700 million dollars have been spent but to no avail," the oil minister said.
"Oil is like a locomotive which can bring the Iranian economy out of recession" he said, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on Sept. 5. He went on to note that the oil ministry plans to transfer gas to 5.2 million new houses across the country in the next three years.
"So many job opportunities will be created since around 7-8 million new heaters and around 15 million spare parts will be needed in the country," Zanganeh explained.
The Statistical Center of Iran previously put the country's unemployment rate last winter at 10.5 percent.
The unemployment rate in the mentioned three-month period which ended on March 20 was 1.8 percent less than the same period of time in the preceding year, Iran's IRIB News Agency reported on June 24.
The country's urban and rural unemployment rate in the mentioned period stood at 11.3 and 8.7 percent, while for men and women the unemployment rate was around 9.1 and 18.9 percent, respectively.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in December that job creation is the most significant issue in the future of the country's economy, while the combination of inflation and stagnation is now the most important problem.
"Tackling high inflation and unemployment are top priorities of the government," Rouhani said before presenting the Iranian parliament (Majlis) with his government's first budget plan.
Some 20.3 percent of youths between the ages of 15 to 29 were jobless in Iran in the mentioned three-month period.
Edited by CN