Iran: State Media Admit Loss of 630,000 Industrial Jobs and Exit of One Million People from Labor Market
- The Role of IRGC-Affiliated Monopolies in the Bankruptcy of Manufacturing Industries and Unchecked Imports
- Unemployment of 20,000 Workers in Hormozgan and Continued Plight of Laid-Off Workers in Borujerd and Mahshahr
The anti-labor and predatory policies of the mullahs’ regime are dealing devastating blows to both the country’s economy and the livelihoods of workers. The trend of closing production units and mass layoffs has assumed catastrophic dimensions. The bankruptcy of industries and closure of factories are direct results of the dominance over the national economy by monopolies affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and institutions linked to Supreme Leader Khamenei’s office.
According to the regime’s statistics center, in the spring of 2026 alone, approximately 630,000 industrial jobs were lost, and the share of industry in the country’s employment has sharply declined (ILNA state-run news agency, August 2, 2026). On August 9, the same state media outlet reported the departure of about one million people from the official labor market, emphasizing that the cosmetic reduction of the unemployment rate in government statistics does not reflect job creation, but is rather due to absolute despair and workers abandoning active job searches.
At the provincial level, the heavy wave of layoffs has devastated thousands of families. According to the executive secretary of the state-run organization known as “Workers’ House” in Hormozgan, the extensive wave of layoffs has caused the unemployment of about 20,000 workers in this province (ILNA, August 28, 2026).
As another example, about 205 workers of the Borujerd Textile Factories have been struggling with layoffs and unemployment for nearly five months and have been deprived of receiving even their meager unemployment insurance benefits (ILNA, August 25, 2026). In Mahshahr, a group of local workers at Petronad Petrochemical were laid off by contractors following the completion of temporary projects; about 100 workers remain in limbo and continue to protest (ILNA, August 26, 2026).
The destruction of the country’s economic and manufacturing infrastructure and the impoverishment of millions of Iranian workers are the direct result of a ruling regime that squanders national wealth on domestic suppression, anti-national nuclear projects, regional warmongering, and the export of terrorism and fundamentalism, or places it under the monopoly of corrupt IRGC commanders. The only way to end this economic catastrophe and secure the rights of workers and laborers is the overthrow of the ruling religious fascism in Iran and the establishment of freedom, justice, and popular sovereignty.
of the National Council of Resistance of Iran– Labor Committee
4 September 2026