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In today’s Iran, chronic inflation has stripped the working class of the most basic right: to live with dignity. For millions of workers, wages no longer sustain life—they merely delay collapse. Survival comes only by sacrificing health, nutrition, housing, and education.
According to independent estimates, a three-member working family in Tehran needs about 50 million tomans per month to cover essentials such as housing, food, healthcare, and transportation. Yet the minimum wage, set by the regime’s Supreme Labor Council for 2025–2026, is only 10.3 million tomans. Even when adding small allowances for housing (1 million), food (1.5 million), and child support (500,000 per child), a married worker with two children earns barely 13–15 million tomans—less than one-third of what is required.
A widening gap between wages and survival
The cost of living in Tehran has surged to unprecedented levels. Social welfare estimates place the “basic subsistence basket” at 25–30 million tomans, but with hidden expenses—emergency medical treatment, children’s schooling, and rising utilities—the figure easily approaches 50 million tomans. Housing alone consumes 35–70 percent of a worker’s income, pushing families into debt and dependency.
A Nation on the Brink: #Iran’s Economy Nears Total Breakdownhttps://t.co/vGWSKMuzub
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 9, 2025
This chasm between wages and costs is not an accident; it is the result of deliberate policies. While inflation gallops, wages remain frozen. In September 2025, point-to-point inflation hit 45.3 percent, the highest in 28 months. Food prices rose 57.9 percent, while bread, the most basic staple, soared by 94.3 percent. A kilo of chicken now costs 115,000 tomans, Iranian rice 250,000, and red meat over one million. Even lentils and beans—once the poor man’s protein—are priced at 160,000 to 300,000 tomans per kilo. For a family of three, just food now requires nearly 20 million tomans per month.
Housing: the unpayable burden
Housing has become the greatest crisis for workers. In middle-income neighborhoods of Tehran such as Narmak or Naziabad, a modest 60-square-meter apartment requires a deposit of 400–500 million tomans and monthly rent of 3–14 million. In central areas, rents exceed 20 million. Families spend over 70 percent of income on housing—well beyond the international threshold of 30 percent that defines a “housing crisis.” The result is widespread debt, loans, and forced relocation to poorer suburbs.
A system fueling hyperinflation
Beyond wages and prices lies a deeper danger: the specter of hyperinflation. Years of fiscal mismanagement, compounded by sanctions and corruption, have left the state with yawning deficits. Instead of structural reform, the regime has resorted to monetizing the deficit, printing money to cover costs. As trust in the rial collapses, money circulation accelerates, further driving up inflation.
The regime’s response—price controls and propaganda—has failed to halt the spiral. The activation of the “snapback” sanctions over the regime’s continued belligerence on its nuclear weapons program has only worsened public expectations, fueling panic and instability in the markets.
#Iran's Economic Collapse Deepens as 80% Face Poverty, Blackouts Worsen, and Regime Braces for Unresthttps://t.co/X0aF4AqFgG
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) August 25, 2025
The toll on workers and families
Over 60 percent of Iranian workers hold multiple jobs in a desperate attempt to keep pace with costs. This leads to exhaustion, declining productivity, and family disintegration. A child’s school supplies now cost 7–8 million tomans, with some items inflating by 200–300 percent. Each new expense tips families further into crisis.
With real wages reduced to less than 200 dollars per month (at an exchange rate of 110,000 tomans per dollar), Iranian workers live on the edge of survival. Every illness, every rent increase, every price shock becomes a life-threatening crisis.
More than economics: a structural injustice
The collapse of wages is not merely an economic issue; it is a social injustice. Workers—the backbone of Iran’s production—are being systematically marginalized. While the minimum cost of living has risen 2.7 times, wages remain stagnant. Under a regime marked by corruption, resource plunder, and international isolation, the working class has been abandoned.
In today’s Iran, work no longer guarantees life—it merely prolongs survival. For the nation’s workers, the fight is not about prosperity but about the right to exist.