On July 19, Iran s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, published a General Employment Policy consisting of 13 goals or strategies to improve employment in Iran. The plan was an indirect but telling acknowledgement of Iran s massive unemployment problem --- it follows just a week after statements by Khamenei to Iran s Chamber of Commerce in which the Supreme Leader urged economic optimism and restraint in publishing discouraging items regarding the economy. The statement was published to virtually every state-owned or affiliated news agency in Farsi, as well as the the Supreme Leader s website.