Financial Tribune: Minimum wage will rise by 21% in the new Iranian year that started on March 20, as per the decision made in the last session of Supreme Labor Council on April 8. After three failed meetings, the representatives of workers, employers and the government agreed to increase the minimum wage from last year’s (March 2019-20) 15.17 million rials ($94) per month to 18.34 million rials ($113) this year. They set worker’s monthly allowance at 4 million rials ($24.8) and the daily wage at 611,809 rials ($3.8), IRNA reported. The severance pay base was set at 17.5 million rials ($108) and the housing allowance at 1 million rials ($6.2). For each child under 18 years, workers will receive 1.83 million rials ($11.3).
Workers of other pay levels (above the minimum) will see a rise of 15% plus a monthly fixed sum of 910,000 rials ($5.6).
According to the country’s labor law, workers’ wages must be 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 current year is 49.4 million rials ($306.8) for a 3.3-member Iranian household, which is 11.8 million rials ($73) more than last year (March 2019-20),” Ali Khodaie, workers’ representative at the Supreme Labor Council, said. The average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending March 19, which marks the end of the fiscal 2019-20, increased by 34.8% compared with the corresponding period of the year before, latest data released by the Statistical Center of Iran show. The consumer inflation for the month under review (Feb. 20-March 19, 2020) registered a year-on-year increase of 22% compared with the similar month of previous year. The overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 200.5 last month, indicating a 1.5% rise compared with the month before. With a coefficient of 26.64%, the CPI of food and beverage stood at 229.9 in the month ending March 19, indicating a 1.9% increase compared with the month before. The food and beverage index registered a year-on-year increase of 14.8% compared with the similar month of last year. The CPI of food and beverage group in the 12-month period ending March 19 increased by 43% compared with last year’s corresponding period.