Iran plans to slash unemployment rate to 7% by 2015

TEHRAN,Aug.8(MNA) - Plans are underway to reduce the unemployment rate in Iran to seven percent by 2015, said the deputy Iranian minister of labor and social welfare. Mohammad-Hossein Forouzan-Mehr added that according to the plans, the unemployment rate will fall by one percent each year during 2013-2015, to reach percent percen. The unemployment rate will be lowered by two percent this year, which ends on March 20, 2013, he added. A member of Iran's high council of employment said that the council had developed a package of investment plans, worth 1.96 trillion rials (some $160 billion), aimed to create 1.1 million new jobs this year. The Mehr News Agency quoted Davoud Qaderi as saying that although the package was designed to create 2.5 million jobs, only 1.1 million of the jobs would be new. The unemployment rate in Iran stood at 12.3 percent last year, showing a 1.2 percent fall compared to its preceding year, the statistical center of Iran reported. Some 400,000 people were employed in Iran last year, which ended on March 19. The government announced over 1.6 million job opportunities were created last year, the Mehr News Agency reported on June 12.