TEHRAN, Jan. 11 (Mehr News Agency) - The Statistics Center of Iran announced the country's unemployment rate rose to 11.3 percent in the third quarter of the calendar year (ended December 21, 2009), up 1.8 percent compared to the last year.

The figure shows no change in comparison with that of the second quarter, the Mehr News Agency reported.

Up to 750,000 people enter the labor market each year in Iran, where more than two-thirds of a population of 70 million is under 30, Press TV reported.

For years now, Iran has been facing with the challenge of reducing its relatively high unemployment rate. President Ahmadinejad''s economic polices reportedly reduced unemployment figures to 9.6 percent in the spring of 2008, achieving the single digit that has been the target for much of the past decade.

The president''s policies, however, have drawn criticism for their inflationary side effects.

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