Page 23 - IRANRptNov21

Tehran civil servants ordered back to desks
Pandemic ‘could leave up to quarter of Iran’s workforce jobless’
Iran sets aside $305mn for unemployed workers hit by COVID-19 turmoil
Iran’s government has ordered Tehran civil servants to return to their desks as of October 20, official news agency IRNA has reported.
Working from home (WFH) has become a growing concern for the traditionalist Iranian bureaucratic system in recent months, with civil servants avoiding long commutes in the Iranian capital for fear of catching coronavirus (COVID-19). And the hardline Raisi administration, which took office in August, is now pushing workers to return to their offices, with the implication that non-compliance will mean the loss of their jobs.
Tehran Province’s deputy governor Gholamreza Abbas Pasha announced the edict calling for an end to WFH on October 19.
Official health data suggests around 40% of the Iranian civil service workforce has been fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
The Iran Chamber of Guilds has proposed that workers across the country should demonstrate that they have been given at least one coronavirus jab before they are allowed back to their workplaces. It advised that shops or businesses where the owners have avoided the vaccination programme can be forced to close as of October 22.
As part of a push to further reopen Iran’s ailing economy, the government has, meanwhile, also cleared the way for children aged between 12 and 18 to receive one coronavirus vaccine dose.
The health ministry on October 18 advised that nearly 49mn people of Iran’s 84mn-strong population have received at least one dose, while more than 25mn have received two doses.
As many as 6.43mn Iranians, making up around a quarter of the workforce of Iran, could find themselves jobless because of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to a study by Iran’s Parliament Research Centre.
A minimum of 2.87mn jobs would be lost amid the health and economic emergency, the study also concluded.
The Iranian government has set aside Iranian rial (IRR) 50 trillion ($305mn at the free market rate, $1.2bn at the government rate) for unemployed workers in the wake of the mass layoffs that have occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, IRNA reported on April 7.
Thousands of casual workers have been laid off in Iran. Annual bonuses have also been scrapped given the crippling financial situation in the country caused by its coronavirus outbreak, the worst in the Middle East.
23 IRAN Country Report November 2021 www.intellinews.com