TEHRAN -- Manager of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Herman Wanderlan said that it would help Iran generate job opportunities for the large number of the job-seekers in the country.

The ILO chief said the organization would work with Iran to develop guidelines and policies to promote professional skills of individuals and job-seekers.

The ILO is to do the task in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), he said.

According to the Public Relations Department of the Iranian Vocational Training Organization, the ILO is to create a number of small and medium-sized workshops to upgrade the quality of training in Iran, IRNA reported.

Wanderlan in a meeting with Mohammad Amin Sazgarnejad, head of the Vocational Training Organization, said the ILO would undertake steps to examine the current vocational training process in Iran and to promote the professional skills of the job-seekers by utilizing new technologies in job generation.

He said programs and plans are being prepared by the ILO that would be translated into action in the near future.

Sazgarnejad said Iran is interested in benefiting from the experience gained by the other states in the vocational training area.

A top official said earlier that Iran needs macro planning to be able to solve unemployment problem in the country.

Unemployment has turned into a global dilemma today with wide repercussions, press reports said. Iran has its own share of the unemployment problem.

Reportedly about 3.5 million people of the active population - between 15 to 64 years old - are currently out of job in Iran.

At least 5.5 million high school graduates would join the jobless within the next four years to increase the unemployment rate to 24 percent. The inactive population comprises 13 million students under 10 years of age, 13 million housewives and 1-3 million retired.

Studies by Iran's Statistics Organization showed that the youth account for 70 percent of the whole population. Though one out of every 10 jobless Iranians holds a university degree, 29.6 percent are high school graduates, 40.8 percent hold primary and secondary school degrees and 6.9 percent are virtually illiterate.

Still about 76 percent of the unemployed are classified as unskilled labor. The figures indicate that the educational curricula don't correspond with the needs of the community.

Macro educational planners have focused most of their energy on expanding the universities' admission rate. The trend has increased the number of degree holders who have high expectations for their careers.

The shortcomings of the educational system would not become evident as long as the burden of generating jobs is on the government. Over 80 percent of degree-holders are absorbed by state sector.