Monthly Living Costs in Tehran Amount to 2.28 Million Tomans

On Sunday, December 30, ISNA reported, citing the Statistical Center of Iran, that last year, Tehran was the most expensive city in Iran with an average monthly living cost of 2.28 million tomans for each household. This amount has increased by 52,000 tomans compared to the year 1391. According to the report, Tehranian households spend 1.84 million tomans monthly on non-food expenses such as rent, water and sewage, fuel and lighting, household goods, healthcare services, and transportation, leaving only 445,000 tomans for food expenses. The report also stated that Qom is the cheapest city in Iran, with an average monthly living cost for a household of about 1.05 million tomans. These figures have been published while the minimum monthly wage for workers in Iran this year is around 609,000 tomans. A comparison of these statistics shows that the living costs in Qom, as the cheapest city in Iran, are about 400,000 tomans higher than the minimum wage for workers. In this regard, the Mehr news agency reported on December 28, citing labor representatives, that the consumption of rice, bread, meat, and milk has decreased by up to 35 percent over the past ten years due to a 72 percent drop in purchasing power, income shortages, and a sudden increase in the prices of household consumables. The news agency pointed out that the wages and benefits received do not cover the living costs of workers, forcing them to eliminate leisure and travel for some of their needs. Mehr also noted that some economists and economic experts have stated that a monthly cost of 2.5 million tomans for each household means that any income below this amount indicates an inability to meet basic living needs. This situation has led to reports indicating that workers' wages only cover 10 days of their living expenses. In recent years, especially after the implementation of the subsidy targeting law, the class gap in Iran has widened. In this context, the newspaper Jahan San'at wrote on July 14 of this year: 'With the implementation of the first phase of subsidy targeting, the purchasing power of the people in Iran has decreased, and with the increase in class disparity, now 31 percent of households are below the poverty line.' This newspaper, citing the internal publication 'Shada' from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, pointed out that during the first phase of the subsidy targeting plan, energy prices increased by 500 percent, stating: 'The people of Iran have become poorer after the implementation of this plan.' The current situation and wages lower than living costs have been repeatedly criticized by all labor organizations in Iran, and they have called for an increase in workers' wages to ensure a decent living this year and in the coming years. Nevertheless, the Tasnim news agency reported that negotiations and bargaining between labor and employer representatives for determining the minimum wage for workers in 1394 have begun, predicting a minimum wage increase of between 14 to 17 percent. In this context, Ali Khodaei, an advisor to the Supreme Council of Islamic Labor Councils, expressed hope in an interview with ISNA on December 24 that 'the government and employers reach a reasonable agreement regarding the living basket of workers' households.' He also considered the basis for calculating workers' wages to be Article 41 of the Labor Law, which states that in addition to determining wages based on the inflation rate, the second clause emphasizes that the determined wage should adequately cover the living expenses of an average four-person household. The advisor to the Supreme Council of Islamic Labor Councils demanded that the wage figure for workers next year should be able to cover the living expenses of a four-person household. According to this report, Fathollah Bayat, the head of the Union of Contract and Temporary Workers, also emphasized on Tuesday the necessity of implementing the second clause of Article 41 of the Labor Law, stating: 'In previous years, although workers' wages increased by up to 25 percent, this increase did not meet the living needs of workers' households.'