Tehran, Iran, Sept. 22
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Currently 3.5 million Afghan workers are employed in Iran.
It is while Iran's Minister of Cooperative, Labor and Welfare Ali Rabi'ee said last week that currently six million people are unemployed in Iran.
Iran's Mehr News Agency reported on September 22 that Afghan workers receive lover wages, which encourages many employers to employ them.
The report also reads that around 50 percent of the Afghans are living and working in Iran illegally.
The illegal workers also do not enjoy the benefits of legal workers, which reduces the costs of employers.
Rabi'ee said in early September that, "Currently there are 2 million job opportunities in the country that no one is willing to take.
"The college graduates' unwillingness to do certain jobs has given the opportunity to foreign immigrants to take the jobs," he explained.
College graduates account for the lion share of Iran's unemployed.
According to Rabiee the figure will reach 10 million in the next seven years, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported on September 21.
The Statistical Center of Iran puts the number of Iran's so-called absolute unemployed at 2.5 million.
The center previously announced that the unemployment rate stands at 10.7 percent.
Based on international standards, the country is currently struggling with a crisis in regards to the unemployment rate of youths (under the age of 30).
Rabi'ee, however, said that currently 22 million people are employed in Iran, promising that the figure would reach 35 million in 7 years.
According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the country's unemployment rate in previous winter stood 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 its 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, respectively.
Unemployment among men and women were also 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 age of 15 to 29 were jobless in Iran in the mentioned three-month period.
Edited by CN