Iran: 65.5% of educated women unemployed

The state-run Aftab News website wrote on women’s employment and education conditions in Iran:

Statistics indicate that unemployment among educated women has reached 65.5%. Experts say unemployment among women and educated women shows two fundamental issues.

First, women’s enthusiasm to take part in economic activities and participate in the job market have tremendously increased over the past two decades to the point where the number of women currently admitted to universities and receiving education is greater than men; this reminds us of the duty of the government and policy makers to provide suitable conditions and adequate grounds for women’s economic participation and employment as many women have abandoned the traditional viewpoint of remaining at home.

There are 5,305,000 educated women, 1,282,000 of whom are employed and 546,000 are seeking employment.

The general unemployment rates among] college educated men and women in Iran is currently 18.5%. Unemployment rate for men is 13%, while it is 65.5% among educated women. In the meantime, the number of educated women seeking jobs is currently higher than men who do the same.

54.3% of the total number of college graduates are men, of which 61.6% are economically active (87% employed and 13% unemployed), and 38.4% are considered inactive.

46.6% of college graduates are women, of whom 34.5% are economically active (70.1% employed and 29.9% unemployed), and 65.5% are considered economically inactive.

(State-run Aftab News website – January 2, 2016)