As news circulates regarding potential percentage increases in the minimum wage for workers covered by Iran’s labor law, the state-run ILNA news agency reported on Tuesday, January 28: “A more than 400% drop in workers’ wages in just ten years is an unprecedented phenomenon in Iran’s economic history.”
The news agency described this phenomenon as “unprecedented and extremely distressing,” stating that it has “pushed workers to the depths of absolute poverty, leaving them without any means to survive.”
Wages of Iranian workers cover only 30% of household expenses
According to the report, “To restore the purchasing power that workers’ wages had in 2014, today, a minimum-wage worker with two children should earn close to 490 million rials (approximately $584).”
Currently, the minimum wage for workers covered by labor law, who are married with children and including benefits, is 110 million rials (approximately $131).
ILNA, referring to the “heavy shadow of over 30% inflation weighing on the deteriorating livelihoods” of Iranians, added: “The rapid pace of rising prices in the recent, relentless waves of inflation is almost unprecedented in modern Iranian history—except for exceptional periods such as the Allied occupation of Iran after World War II and the subsequent famine.”
The news agency further highlighted the daily rise in food prices. The report specifically mentioned the price of 100 grams of pasteurized butter, which increased by more than 57% between September and December 2024.
Many Workers in Iran Have to Wait Six Months to Receive Their Wages
ILNA also noted: “After November, a new but severe wave of price hikes arrived once again. With government approval to eliminate subsidies for pharmaceutical production, medication prices surged by up to 400%, and other goods, including cooking oil, were granted price increase approvals.”
Citing official data from Iran’s Statistical Center, the news agency wrote: “In January, the greatest inflationary pressure was exerted on households by food products, with monthly inflation for these items rising above 3% in some income brackets.”
According to this report, in January 2025, households paid 31.8% more for the same basket of goods and services compared to January of the previous year.
These price increases have been approved by the Iranian government despite the fact that workers’ and other wage earners’ salaries have not increased at all this year. Nevertheless, the Supreme Labor Council, affiliated with the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, has taken no action—just as in previous years—to even slightly improve workers’ purchasing power.
Meanwhile, ILNA quoted labor activist Alireza Khorrami as saying: “If a worker earns less than 300 million rials, they cannot manage their basic living expenses at all. To pay for rent, food, and essential items such as medicine, at least 300 million rials is needed.”
These meager wages are not only unjust but a clear embodiment of modern slavery.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Meydari, Iran’s Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, mentioned a “new and effective method for determining wages” on a televised program on Monday, January 27, but provided no details about this “new method.”
Meydari also admitted in his remarks that “according to available statistics, in the past five years, some government employees have had salary increases in line with inflation, but workers’ wages have increased at a rate lower than inflation.”
Low wages in Iran have been one of the reasons for the spread of protests among workers and other wage earners across various regions of the country. Economic protests in November 2019 led to a large-scale uprising, during which the Iranian regime killed at least 1,500 protesters in the streets. Demonstrators quickly escalated their demands to calling for the overthrow of the ruling regime in Iran.
