Iran loses two million jobs due to war
The Deputy Minister of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare of Iran warned this Sunday about the strong impact of the war on the labor market in the Islamic Republic. Gholamhossein Mohammadí, also president of the Technical and Vocational Training Organization, has stated that, according to preliminary estimates, the conflict has caused the loss of more than one million jobs and has left some two million people directly and indirectly unemployed.
According to various reports, the prolonged internet interruption in Iran, which has now entered its eighth week, has directly and indirectly affected the income of millions of citizens and aggravated the job crisis. Added to this is the bombing of key infrastructures such as oil, gas and petrochemical facilities, as well as steel complexes, which has altered production chains and related industries, intensifying the wave of unemployment.
The Iranian economy, which was already suffering from prolonged stagflation before the conflict, now faces new pressures derived from the destruction of infrastructure and the maritime blockade imposed by the United States. The latest data from the Iranian Statistics Center show that inflation, which stood at 38.9% a year ago, has climbed to 71.8% on the eve of the ceasefire.
More than 90% of the movement of goods in Iran’s foreign trade is carried out by sea and the majority of that traffic passes through ports in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.
In this context, many Iranians have reduced spending on non-essential goods and, given the uncertainty about the duration of the conflict, choose to allocate their limited income or savings to the purchase of basic products, especially food.
