Mahmoud Karimi Beyranvand, the acting deputy of employment and entrepreneurship of Iran’s Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, has reported a new problem for employers, stating that employers’ concerns about the shortage of resources and capital in circulation have reached the point of securing labor force, and in some provinces of the country, “workers cannot be found.”
These statements by Beyranvand come at a time when there has been no particular development in job creation, and experts attribute the reason for this to the lack of attractiveness of official wages for workers.
On July 23, Hadi Abouyee, the Secretary-General of the Trade Union Associations of Workers stated that nowadays workers are looking for ideal jobs in terms of income and “are not willing to engage in activities under specific regulations.”
Abouyee emphasized that factory production lines need workers, but they cannot be found. Abouyee stated that the reality of society is that the cost of a worker’s livelihood basket is approximately 150 to 160 million rials (equivalent to $320). Since workers can’t earn this amount from their normal jobs, they are forced to constantly look for a job with better income.
It is worth noting that the minimum monthly salary of wage earners in Iran is approximately 80 million rials, meaning a mere $155.
On April 29, Hamidreza Hajibabayi, the head of the Planning and Budget Commission of the Parliament, said, “I want to tell the people to bring your youth to the factories to work because there are job opportunities but no workers.”
The gap between wages and the cost of living has increased in recent years, leading workers to demand wage adjustments.
The lack of support from government and employers to adjust wages has caused some workers to seek fake jobs. Alongside this issue, the discussion of worker migration has also been raised in recent months, and this very issue has affected the motivation of “simple labor force” for working in Iran.
A representative of workers in the Supreme Labor Council said in this regard that “wage suppression” has caused some workers to migrate.
Ayat Asadi’s remarks indicate the widespread extent of low wages in Iran’s economy, which has resulted in the migration of workers.
Asadi emphasized that “wage suppression of workers” has caused some skilled workers to leave their jobs or engage in fake occupations, or some of them migrate to neighboring countries such as Iraq, Qatar, Oman, or even Afghanistan. Currently, employers are facing a shortage of skilled labor.
The head of Tabriz Chamber of Commerce also said that one of the causes of skilled labor migration to neighboring countries is seeking to earn wages in dollars.
Younes Zhaleh emphasized that the salary of skilled Iranian workers in neighboring countries such as Iraq and Pakistan is 1 billion rials (approximately $2,000).
According to Zhaleh, various sectors in Tabriz are in dire need of labor force, and to compensate for this shortage, they have turned to attracting women as low-wage workers.
Zhaleh announced that the main reason for the shortage of labor force and skilled labor in the province is the migration of these individuals to regional countries, including Iraq and Pakistan, to work and receive their wages in dollar.
Under the tyrannical rule of the mullahs, Iran’s workers are not only suffering from low wages, lack of job security and social and health insurance, but they’re also deprived of the most basic rights that every worker in the world should enjoy.
One of the most endemic problems of Iran’s labor force is unpaid wages. Iran’s workers are often deprived from receiving the meager salaries their employers have committed to pay them. This is a problem that has become exacerbated and Iranian workers often go months and even more than a year without receiving their salaries.
The managers of government-run companies, especially companies that have been “privatized,” which means handed over to private owners who are closely tied to Iranian regime officials, regularly refrain from paying the wages of Iranian workers under different pretexts.
The salaries of Iranian workers in government organizations and municipalities are being delayed while regime officials are receiving their stellar wages on time.
While regime officials continue to show a lack of will to respond to the demands of Iran’s labor force, Iran’s workers have proven that they have the will to continue to fight for their rights. And they’re becoming increasingly convinced that things will only change when the mullahs’ regime is overthrown and replaced with a democratic government that cares for the people of Iran.
