Iran’s minimum wage has increased each year in local-currency terms, but its dollar value has dropped sharply as the rial weakened, leaving workers effectively poorer despite nominal pay rises, labor reports and activists say.
The state-run Supreme Labor Council has approved successive annual increases, including a 45% rise for 2025 that set the base salary at roughly 104.4 million rials.
Yet at current market rates at about 1,160,000 rials per dollar, that monthly wage is worth about $90–$110 depending on benefits, compared with about $238–$300 in 2016 when the minimum was over 81 million rials (today less than $7) and the dollar traded near 34,000 rials, according to calculations cited by ILNA.
Labor activist Bahram Hassaninejad said the living standards of wage earners have “severely declined in both quality and quantity,” adding that many now work merely to survive.
He said the erosion of workers’ material and social standing has deepened over time, with little sign of recovery to conditions seen a decade ago. “Every administration that has come to power has only completed the anti-labor policies of the previous one,” he added.
According to labor groups, modest state subsidies and food vouchers have failed to close the widening gap between wages and living costs. Many workers now take on extra or informal jobs -- from driving and street vending to collecting recyclables --in an effort to keep their families afloat.
Regular labor protests have continued over worsening economic conditions. Demonstrators often hold signs reading, “Our wages are in rials, but the costs are in dollars,” highlighting how dollar-linked prices and imported goods have eroded real incomes despite repeated pay increases.
Independent estimates reported by Iranian outlets suggest today’s base wage covers only a fraction of a typical household’s monthly expenses.
One labor advocate said a standard basket of basic goods for a three-person family far exceeds the minimum salary, adding, “With this income, a family can only cover a few days of essential costs.”
Officials say annual wage-setting follows the law, which requires consideration of inflation and basic needs. Economists caution that large nominal raises, without broader reforms, can feed prices while failing to restore purchasing power.
