In recent years, and particularly in the months following the recent war, workers’ “real wages” in Iran have experienced a severe collapse. By global standards, a daily wage below $10 constitutes absolute poverty. International organizations and labor bodies, including the International Trade Union Confederation, generally classify workers earning less than $5 a day as being in extreme poverty or as workers on the brink of famine and starvation.
Over a 10-year period, the base wage of workers covered by Iran’s labor law, or what is referred to as the “real wage of the working class,” has fallen from $232 to $83. In other words, workers’ real wages were 2.7 times higher 10 years ago than they are today.
Thus, according to official definitions, workers whose monthly wages are around $100 are considered “extremely poor” and at risk of hunger. Unfortunately, the majority of Iranian workers today fall into this category.
As of August 28, the price of the U.S. dollar in Iran’s market has reached nearly 200,000 tomans, or 2 million rials. This year, the minimum wage for married workers with one child, including all benefits, is 249 million rials, equivalent to $124. The base wage for workers this year has been set at 166.25 million rials, which at today’s exchange rate is $83.
The base wage of Iranian workers has fallen to $83, while according to global reports, wage earners in Iran, with an average wage of $85, rank third among countries with the lowest wages.
This is a steep and unprecedented collapse. On the one hand, despite the official cost of a basic livelihood basket being set at 420 million tomans, or 4.2 billion rials, in March 2026, representatives of the social partners at an institution called the Supreme Labor Council—which is under government control and systematically and continuously suppresses workers’ wages—set the base wage at 166.25 million tomans, or 1.6625 billion rials. This brought the take-home pay of single workers to just over 210 million rials and that of married workers with one child to 240 million rials. On the other hand, following the war and recent crises, the dollar exchange rate surged unchecked, reaching the extraordinary and unprecedented figure of 2 million rials, within a few months. Since many consumer goods are imported or rely on raw materials imported at dollar-denominated rates, and since increases in the dollar exchange rate have broad and fundamental effects on the prices of almost all goods and services, workers’ “real wages,” measured by purchasing power, have fallen to their lowest level in recent decades, and many Iranian workers and retirees are living on wages of less than $100 or around that amount.
This is while in prosperous and developed countries, the minimum wage for workers is above $1,000. According to a published ranking based on data from the International Labour Organization, Luxembourg ranks first in terms of average monthly gross wages adjusted for purchasing power. In this ranking, the average purchasing power of monthly wages in Luxembourg is estimated at around $9,307. Luxembourg is followed by Belgium, at around $8,297, and the Netherlands, at around $7,234.
The 10-Year Path of Decline
To provide a clearer picture of the decline in workers’ real wages, we consider a 10-year period. The base wage for workers this year has been set at 166.25 million rials, which is only $83. In September 2021, the base wage was 26.55 million rials. At the time, the U.S. dollar was trading at around 26,800 tomans, or 268,000 rials. Thus, five years earlier, the base wage gave workers purchasing power equivalent to about $99.
In 2016, the dollar was priced at around 35,000 rials. At the time, the workers’ base wage was 8.12164 million rials. Thus, 10 years ago, the base wage was equivalent to $232.
In fact, over a 10-year period, the base wage of workers covered by the labor law, or what is referred to as the “real wage of the working class,” has fallen from $232 to $83. In other words, workers’ real wages were 2.7 times higher 10 years ago than they are today.
Workers and Retirees Can No Longer Afford Meat
The past 10 years have been marked by intense economic liberalization, economic shocks, and successive harsh sanctions that culminated in war and crisis. During this same period, regime-affiliated figures amassed enormous profits and became billionaires, while the working class plunged into the depths of poverty in an unprecedented manner. It goes without saying who is responsible for this unprecedented and uncontrolled collapse.
Workers, including skilled workers, have suffered an unprecedented decline during these years. The economic status of many working-class families has shifted from “nearly middle class” to “poor” and then to “extremely poor,” gradually sinking into a vortex of economic hardship. The clearest manifestation of this can be seen at working-class family tables. Iranian workers can rarely afford to buy meat.
The 2.7-fold decline in real wages over the past 10 years has driven Iran’s working class to the threshold of absolute poverty and to third place among the countries with the lowest wages in the world. The mismatch between wages and inflation, coupled with the surge in the exchange rate, has plunged the livelihoods and food security of this segment of society into a serious crisis.
