At its starting point, Iran’s recent uprising kicked off on December 28, 2017, with such slogans like ‘Death to high prices’ and ‘Death to unemployment’ and quickly turned into “Death to the Dictator and Death to Khamenei” and the request for “ Regime Change” as the one and only solution to all the problems.
Concerning the economic aspect of the protests it is notable that the dimensions and depth of the country’s unemployment has grown so much that there are lots of graduates who despite their high level of expertise are involved in such irrelevant jobs like laboring and working as an errand boy in shops, which is even more astonishing — and of course more heart-rending — than the country’s unemployment problem itself.
In this regard, a new report on unemployment, its dimensions and different types was recently aired on state TV that is worth mentioning here.
In the report, the TV presenter interviews workers who despite holding bachelor’s or doctorate degrees — and in some cases even with national and international scientific Olympiad medals under their belt — have to work as construction workers, guards or doormen as there’s no job relevant to their fields of study and they know no one to pull some strings for them, either.
300 applicants with university degrees responded to a state TV employment ad. The report airs phone conversations with some of the applicants as well as an in-person interview with a young, male job seeker. In the interview, the young applicant is informed that he can only be offered a dish-washing job, and is asked if he’s willing to take that job. After a little bit of hesitation, the young man with a Master’s degree gives a positive answer. He even doesn’t hold back when he finds out that he’s been filmed. Instead, he first protests a little and then asks the correspondent if he can arrange his employment somewhere.
“I’ve taken part in entrance exams of ministries, embassies, and state broadcasting organization, but I couldn’t get hired since I knew no one to pull some strings for me”, says the young applicant. The correspondent then agrees with the applicant’s request.
The country’s real unemployment figure is unknown
In a report titled “Three million Iranians are unemployed: the result of disregard for the production cycle!” state-run Kayhan newspaper writes on September 23, 2017 “Unemployment figure among the country’s working age population (ten years old and higher) has risen from 3,203, 398 in February 2017 to 3,366,973 in May same year.”
“There are five to six million unemployed people in the country”, writes state-run Javan newspaper on July 24, 2017.
Also state-run Abrar newspaper on July 26, 2017, quotes a mullahs’ regime MP as saying “the number of country’s unemployed is bigger than the official figures.”
State-run Resalat newspaper on August 29, 2017, quotes regime’s economist ‘Ebrahim Razaghi’ as saying “15 million Iranians are unemployed.”
When it comes to women, unemployment rate doubles
State-run Shargh newspaper writes on May 9, 2017 “Rouhani caused 860 thousand women to go out of work in eight years.”
Another state-run newspaper ‘Saye-Rouz’ quotes Labor Minister on September 3, 2017, as saying “unemployment rate among women has risen fivefold in the past 20 years.”
Destruction of industry due to excessive imports
One of the most important reasons behind Iran’s high unemployment rate is rooted in regime’s anti-national policy of excessive imports which has cost the country’s industry and agriculture.
According to state-run Kayhan newspaper on May 12, 2017, “with closure of at least 30 of the country’s most important brands and factories — including Arj, Darougar, Azmayesh, Pars Electric, Esfahan’s Polyacryl, Irana Tiles, Tabriz Machine Manufacturing, Istak, Isaac Bicycle Manufacturing, Varamin’s Sugar Cubes, Ghou Vegetable Oil, Ray’s Chiffon Fabrics, and Iran Wood — one million workers have gone out of work in four years.”
In the meantime, 60 percent of the country’s factories are closed and the remaining 40 percent are operating with 30 percent of their capacity in the past four years. This on one hand and laying off 20 to 25 percent of semi-closed factories’ workforce on the other have joined hands to double the problems and hardships of workers’ lives.
Unemployed graduates
State-run Iran newspaper on April 1, 2017, quoted regime’s then presidential candidate as saying “the unemployment rate among the country’s graduates is 40 percent.”
The process of putting people out of work and destroying national production under the ruling regime is not going to stop.
As state-run Vatan-e-Emrouz newspaper writes on April 1, 2017, “the number of country’s unemployed people is added by 150 every hour. This amounts to 3600 more unemployed each day, 25200 each week, and 108 thousands each month. In other words, one million 300 thousand is added to the country’s unemployment number each year.”
As part of regime’s economic nature, the ‘unemployment-raising process’ has by itself turned into one of the driving forces of people’s uprising.
Source » ncr-iran