Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 20
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Unemployment among graduates, low productivity, low wages, a recession and low interaction with the world are the five major economic problems for Iran, the Mehr News Agency quoted Iran's Deputy Labour Minister Hassan Hefdahtan as saying on November 20.
A one per cent economic growth would reduce the unemployment rate by five to six per cent, he added.
The human resource development index and unemployment rate are imbalanced in different provinces of the country, he noted.
On October 25, the head of Statistical Centre of Iran said that Iran's unemployment has turned into a crisis.
"The country's youth unemployment rate is currently around 26 per cent," the Mehr News Agency quoted Adel Azar as saying.
"The country's total unemployment rate is also 12.2 per cent," he added.
Over 542,000 job opportunities were created in Iran during the past eight years.
The International Monetary Fund said Iran's GDP at the current US dollar stood at $482 billion in 2010, standing at the 25th place in the world. Iran is at the 79th place in terms of per GPD per capita.
The World Bank also estimated that Iran's GDP in 2011 was $514.059 billion.
Considering that Iran faced a 1.9 per cent economic contraction in 2012 and the national currency was devalued by 40 per cent during that year, the GDP at the current US dollar rate has decreased even below $482 billion.