Effects of Water Resource Reduction on Employment in Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Sectors Based on the Social Accounting Matrix

Water is one of the main basic resources for development and is the most significant factor in Iranian agriculture production. The agricultural sector has an important role in production, employment, and gaining exchange and drastically affects other sectors of the economy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of water resources` reduction on agricultural sub-sector and other sectors` employment. The employment data were collected from SAM, 2011 and the employment generated by the economic activities of the economic sectors and the contribution of each of these sectors to employment was examined. The service sector ranked first with 24.99% employment creation and agriculture ranked second with 19%. Construction, industry, commerce, and transportation sectors ranked third to sixth, with 82.4% of the total employed working in these six sectors. The results showed that with water resources reduction by 10, 20 and 30%, the total employment decreased to 416334, 769472 and 1044114 people, respectively. In agricultural sub-sectors, the highest decrease was in farming and horticulture subsectors with an average of 14.17%.  According to the results, water saving technology was a solution to reach the major goals of agricultural development, especially for employment.