The Supreme Labor Council set the living wage for a 3.3-member Iranian household in the current year (March 2017-18) at 26.7 million rials ($568) on Tuesday, close to 1.81 million rials ($38.5) more than that of last year. Food and beverage expenditures accounted for 25.7% of the figure and non-food items made up 74.3% of the households’ expenditures, Mehr News Agency reported. The council consists of government officials, including Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei, as well as representatives of workers and employers. It is two years now the council sets the living wage of Iranian households—a theoretical wage level that allows an individual to afford adequate shelter, food and other necessities as the overture for determining the minimum wage of the following year. The current year’s minimum wage stood at 9.3 million rials ($197), 14.5% more than that of the last fiscal.
