Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6
By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:
Although Iran's unemployment rate over the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 20) reached 11 percent, an Iranian prominent economist suggests that President Hassan Rouhani's administration has taken successful steps in dealing with economic hurdles.
"The unemployment rate over the last [Iranian calendar] year slightly increased by 0.4 percent compared to the preceding year. It means that the government, in deed, has managed the unemployment in the most difficult year for the country in the terms of economy since the 1979 revolution," Saeed Leylaz, an advisor to the former Iranian reformist President Mohammad Khatami, told Trend.
A recent report released by the Iranian Statistical Center April. 6, has revealed that the country's Economically Active Population (employed, unemployed) is over 24.701 million people while over 2.7 million out of the total number are unemployed.
Saeed Leylaz, however, describes the government's economic performance over the last year as positive as the administration managed to invest a considerable amount in development projects amid economic difficulties in the country due to sharp decline in oil prices and international sanctions.
"The fact that the administration alone invested about $10 billion in various projects over the last year shows that the government has performed successfully in resolving economic crisis," he said.
"The government created about 9000 job opportunities per month over the past two years and half which testifies to the government's positive economic performance," Leylaz added. Predicting that the economic growth in the country will grow by five percent over the current Iranian calendar year (started March 20), he further estimated that at least 300,000 job opportunities will be created in the country.