The unemployment rate of women in Iran has risen 25% in seven years according to the latest statistics released by the Iranian Labor Ministry.
The number of unemployed women in Iran has increased from 830,996 in 2011 to more than 1,037,000 women in 2017.
The figures have been just recently announced by the Centre of Strategic Statistics and Information of the Labor Ministry, indicating an increase of 200,000 unemployed women in the said period, which is 25% in seven years.
Unemployment is rampant among women in Iran. From the 27 million women over the age of 10 in Iran, only three million are employed and the remaining 24 million are not in the workforce. (The state-run Mehr news agency – June 8, 2016)
The state-run media had previously announced that based on the results of the Labor Force Survey, the unemployment rate for women had increased 3% in five years. The unemployment rate of women rose from 16.8% in 2009 to 19.8% in 2013.
Statistics in 2009 also showed that nearly 30.5% of women were employed in the agricultural sector, 25.5% in the industrial sector, and 44% in the services’ sector. (The state-run Asr-e Iran daily – July 19, 2015)
The unemployment rate for young women under 30 has been reported 85.9%. (The state-run Mehr News Agency – January 5, 2016 / the state-run Tabnak website – December 26, 2015)
The state-run Donya-e Eqtesad described women’s employment as being “on the decline,” while asserting that women’s employment rate in Iran is the world’s lowest. (The state-run Donya-e Eqtesad – September 29, 2015)
In November 2013, it was announced that the average unemployment rate of women is only 21.6% in Tehran despite the highest concentration of industrial plants and administrative centers in the nation’s capital.
Iranian women are the first victims of layoffs, unequal wages and gender discrimination.
