In Iran, a PhD means ... Pizza Hut delivery work

TEHRAN -- The United States may see oil and terrorism as Islamic Iran's main exports, but many young people here will be quick to disagree.

The Islamic republic, home to some of the most qualified young people in the Middle East, has been exporting its brainpower at an alarming rate - with an estimated 150,000 frustrated graduates taking flight every year.

And as a joke going around Iranian universities, having a PhD means that you are more than likely to head overseas for a job doing Pizza Hut delivery.

"It doesn't really matter what your graduation grade is. It makes no difference what contacts you have. You just cannot find a decent job," complained Somayeh, a 25-year-old graduate of industrial design.

Officially, the unemployment rate among graduates stands at around 16 percent. Experts say that the real figure is far higher and caution further that the figures are also hiding an additional, far larger problem of underemployment.

She is now a prime candidate to join the visa queues outside foreign embassies and not the polling stations when they open on June 17 for Iran's presidential elections.

"For a simple secretary who answers the phone, they pay 800,000 [Iranian] riyals [$90] a month. How can someone raise a family with such a low salary?" Somayeh said.

The eight candidates bidding for Iran's presidency have all been paying lip service to the unemployment issue, but the signs are that few young people have been convinced that change is on the horizon.

Turning around a stagnant economy strong on providing bland, job-for-life and low-paid administrative work but little else will be a tough task. Most Iranians seem to agree.

Ali, a depressed graphic designer in his mid-20s, can be found trawling though the labor ministry's employment directories. He said that he had all-but given up hope of finding a job in Iran.

"For a good job with decent pay it's a never-ending search," he said glumly, all set to join the 4-million-strong Iranian Diaspora spread across the United States, Canada and Europe.

"Now I'm looking for something in Germany or Australia. It may be totally unrelated to my skills, like packing boxes, but at least the salary is decent."

The other attraction of heading abroad is greater individual freedoms - and this is another factor that leaves young people uninspired by the forthcoming presidential elections.

The polls will mark the end of the mandate of incumbent President Mohammad Khatami, who managed to lure voters in 1997 and 2001 but failed to live up to his promise to shake up the way that the Islamic republic is run.

"I do not think there will be a large number of people, especially among the youth, who will be voting," said Somayeh.

"For Khatami's first and second election, me and my family rushed out to vote. But he couldn't solve the problem of unemployment, so what can the next president do?"

According to Mehdi Sahraian, an economist and professor, the governmental five-year plans put in place since 1990 have consistently fallen short when it comes to job creation.

"In the current 2000 to 2005 plan the annual target for new jobs is 700,000, but the figures are only reaching 350,000," he said.

"The government needs to prepare the ground for private sector growth to absorb the workforce, but the problem is that 80 percent of the economy is controlled by the government. The government is the biggest rival of the private sector."

"The situation has instilled in young people a utilitarian approach," explained Fariborz Raees Dana, another economist.

"We cannot offer them opportunities in the fields of politics, economics or science. So they simply move on."

I agree, the education system must have been there long before. Mullahs' role has been mainly not tampering with that too much.

Some of stories that I hear from Iranian scientists are reminiscent of Soviet Union. I grew up in former Soviet Union and heard stories about the life at universities there in the later stages of the Communist regime (1970s/early 1980s). "How to smuggle a Christmas tree into the university while Communists are not watching" type. What I hear from Iranians can be similar in spirit (trying to bypass what the regime imposes them and challanging the regime in little things), despite the ideologies of the two regimes being so different.

I wonder if there is anything more behind those superficial similarities. Sign that the regime might crack? Maybe not yet.

They can come here, where typical Human Resources sychophants will fall all over them. They need to hire them because of their skin color.

Not so sure, there is a pretty long pecking order in affirmative action before these guys would get a shot.

That said, on the pecking order they are probably closer to whites (being the last pick) then they are to blacks (who would be the first picks).

IRAN HAS 70,000,000 people. Oil revenues don't go so far with such a burgeoning population. Iran's other major export is pistachio nuts.

And of course, terrorism!

Mark

I imagine "A"s are handed out generously for Hate Jews 212...the art of strap-on munitions.

if you were to earn a place in an iranian university, you would be at the very top, as there is a lot of population and not that many places to be had. now the universities are also the hotbeds of anti-regime feeling. these people are risking their lives protesting. not long ago, violent militias raided university dorms, beating and smashing and even taking some people away.

so maybe what you said is kind of backwards. its the universities that are full of intelligent people who are willing to stand up against the regime. and, believe me, they dont hate jews or america. dont for a second think that the rhetoric of mad clerics or the regime has anything to do with the more educated parts of iranian society.

and as for the quality of the education? i know people who who studied in tehran. they are very smart people. one girl is earning 6 figures doing r&d in the IT industry. the others i know are also very talented and intelligent people. when iran finally emerges from the shadow its been under since 1979, you will be amazed at what they can offer the world.

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