Minimum wage, excluding allowances and stipends, will rise by 39% in the new Iranian year (starting March 21) to reach 26.55 million rials ($107.05), says Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Mohammad Shariatmadari.
“Workers of other pay levels (above the minimum) will see a rise of 26% plus a monthly fixed sum of 2.41 million rials ($9.7),” he told the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network.
As per the decision made at the latest meeting of Supreme Labor Council on March 13, representatives of workers, employers and the government agreed to set the daily wage at 885,000 rials ($3.56), which raises the monthly minimum wage to 26.55 million rials.
Worker’s monthly food coupon was set at 6 million rials ($24.19), severance pay base at 1.4 million rials ($5.64) and housing allowance at 4.5 million rials ($18.14) per month. For each child under 18 years, workers will receive 2.65 million rials ($10.68) monthly. All in all, workers’ minimum wage plus allowances will reach 41.9 million rials ($168.95) next year.
According to the country’s labor law, workers’ wages must be set based on the inflation rate and living wage, i.e., the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. The living wage set for the next year was set at 68.95 million rials ($278.02) for a 3.3-member Iranian household, IRNA reported.
Considering the high inflation rate in Iran, the rise in minimum wages is dwarfed by rising prices.
Latest data released by the Statistical Center of Iran show the average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending Feb. 18, which marks the end of the 11th month of the current Iranian year, increased by 34.2% compared with the corresponding period of last year.
SCI had put the average annual inflation rate for the preceding Iranian month, which ended on Jan. 19, at 32.2%.
The consumer inflation for the month under review (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) registered an increase of 48.2% compared with the similar month of the previous Iranian year. The year-on-year inflation of the month ending Jan. 19 was 46.2%.
The overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 292.8, indicating a 2.5% rise compared with the month before. Month-on-month consumer inflation was at 1.8% for the preceding month.
SCI put average annual inflation for urban and rural areas at 34.1% and 35%, respectively.
CPI registered a year-on-year increase of 47.2% for urban areas and 53.6% for rural areas in the month ending Feb. 18.
The overall CPI reached 289.5 for urban households and 311.2 for rural households, indicating a month-on-month increase of 2.4% and 3.3% for urban and rural areas, respectively.
