Azerbaijan, Baku, May 02/ Trend F.Milad/
Despite the Iranian administration's promises to create 4.1 million jobs during 2010-2011, some 500,000 employed persons have lost their job, the Mehr News Agency reported.
The government had claimed to create 1.6 jobs in 2010 and 2.5 more jobs in 2011, but statistics show the unemployment rate in 2010 rose by 0.4 per cent compared to the preceding year.
The Employment Higher Council of Iran has approved creating 2.5 million jobs in the next calendar year, which starts on March 20, 2013, the Fars News Agency reported.
Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare Minister Abdolreza Sheikholeslami has said that the country plans to cut its unemployment rate to seven per cent by the end of 2012 in line with the fifth socio-economic development plan (2010-2015).
Unemployment rate in Iran stood at 13.5 per cent in the past calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2011, showing a 1.6 per cent rise compared to the figure for its preceding year, the Statistical Centre of Iran reported.
The report put the country's jobless population during the third quarter of the current calendar year at over 2.6 million, according to Mehr news agency.