Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.7
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The Iranian labor minister has warned of a 10 million jobless threat in the country, the Mehr News Agency reported on December 7.
Labor Minister Ali Rabiee has warned of a "great unemployment tsunami" and referred to it as a major concern for the administration of President Hassan Rouhani.
According to Iranian officials, some 4.5 million university graduates will be added to the currently 3 million unemployed people in the country in the near future.
Iran will face a population of around 8.5 million jobless in the near future, the Mehr News Agency quoted Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ali Tayyebnia as saying in August.
For the time being, some 3.5 people are jobless in the country, he said, adding that the figure will soar to 8.5 million, as a large number of educated youth will graduate from universities soon and will look for jobs.
The low economic growth rate is currently the main challenge in the national economy, Tayyebnia said.
He referred to high unemployment as another serious concern.
The ministry will focus on improving the living standards through curbing inflation and flourishing businesses, he stated.
Iran's unemployment has turned into a crisis, the head of Statistical Centre of Iran said on October 25.
Over 542,000 job opportunities were created in Iran during the past eight years, according to the Statistical Centre of Iran.
Iran's unemployment rate stood at 12.2 percent in the previous calendar year (which ended March 20), IRNA reported.