Azerbaijan , Baku, Oct. 6 / Trend D.Khatinoglu /
We will eliminate unemployment phenomenon completely by creating five million new jobs by the end of next solar year (March 2013), Mehr News Agency reported quoting Iranian president Mahhmoud Ahmadinejad as saying in Hamadan, Iran.
Ahmadinejad stated that creating 75 million jobs is possible in Iran, but some individuals are provoking the government's plans. Iran has a population of about 75 million people.
"Our destination is to create 2.5 million new jobs in this solar year," he added. "Moreover, we are determined to create 2.5 million additional jobs in next solar year."
On Oct. 3 Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Abdolreza Sheykholeslami claimed that one million new jobs have been created during the first six months of current solar year (started on March 20, 2011).
Sheykholeslami said 1.6 million new jobs have been created in previous solar year and noted the unemployment rate has reduced to 11.1 percent in summer, indicating a 2.5 percent decline compared to the last year.
The International Monetary Fund forecasted 2.5 percent economic growth amid an unemployment ratio of 15.3 percent in Iran in 2011.
Iran includes those working even an hour a week into the list of employed people. According to international standards, employed person should have minimum 48 work hours a week.
During ex-president Mohammad Khatami's presidency in 1997-2005, the country achieved a 5-percent economic growth on average and opened 600,000 new jobs annually.
On the other hand, according to the Strategic Planning and Control Organization, the country achieved 6.63 percent economic growth a year on average from 2004 to 2007 and opened 764,633 new jobs annually.
More than 3.5 million Iranians are unemployed, while 900,000 are entering the labor market a year.
Ahmadinejad's government has neither published GDP growth from 2008 nor the details of created jobs.