Figures by the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) show jobless rate in the country dropped by 1% to 8.2% in the quarter to June 21 compared with the same period last year.
SCI figures published in a report on Saturday by the official IRNA news agency showed that the number of people in employment in Iran had reached 24.306 million in the three months to late June, up by 728,000 from the same quarter in 2022.
Iranian services sector accounted for 51.3% of all jobs in the country over the quarter to late June, followed by manufacturing at 33.1% and agriculture at 15.5%, showed the figures.
The figures showed that youth joblessness in Iran had dropped by 2.4% year on year in the June quarter to 21.6% while unemployment rate among the Iranian population of 18-35 year olds rose 1.1% to 15.5% over the same period.
The SCI said the share of people either in work or looking for work, a group classed as economically active, rose by 0.3% from April-June last year to 41.2% in the same quarter this year.
Iran has reported steady increases in its employment rate in recent years mainly because of a boom in manufacturing activity that has been caused by the country’s economic diversification plans.
The plans were introduced in 2018 to offset the impacts of US sanctions on Iran’s crude oil exports.
The number of jobs in Iran’s agriculture sector have also picked up in recent years with better yields and increased exports from the sector.