Faramsarz Tofighi, a former member of the Supreme Labor Council and a labor activist, said in an interview with KhabarOnline that the cost of living has increased and workers’ purchasing power has declined, especially after the Iran war, adding that the workers’ household necessities basket has reached “91 million and 300 thousand tomans.”

Tofighi added that the calculation of the necessities basket was done “based on figures from the Iran Statistics Center,” and shows a significant gap between the minimum wage and the real cost of living.

At present, the wage base for workers covered by the Labor Law is about 16 million and 600 thousand tomans. The minimum wage for these workers, if they are married and have children, reaches about 25 million tomans.

Yet, even this amount of wages is not paid to workers who are not covered by the Labor Law.