Report: Some 6.9m persons employed in Iran’s industry sector

TEHRAN,Aug.14(MNA) - According to the Statistics Center of Iran, 6,905,575 were working in the industry sector of the country by the end of spring this year. The figure was 1.2 percent higher compared to that of the same period in last year. Some 82,000 new jobs were created in spring this year compared to the year before. Iran’s unemployment rate in spring this calendar year, which began on March 20, hit 12.9 percent, compared to 14.1 percent in winter, the Statistics Center of Iran announced on Sunday. The jobless rate was reported to be 14.9 percent in urban areas and 8 percent in rural areas. The number of unemployed people amounted to 3.146 million during the mentioned period of time. Meanwhile, the deputy minister of labor and social welfare said last week that plans are underway to reduce the unemployment rate by two percent by the end of the current calendar year. Mohammad-Hossein Forouzan-Mehr added that during 2013-2015, the unemployment rate will decrease by one percent each year to reach the goal of 7 percent unemployment rate.