Iran- 2026 wages: minimum of US $547
Abbas Goya – March 2026
Introduction
The outbreak of the Iran–Iraq war became a pretext for rolling back the gains workers had achieved from the 1979 revolution. During the war, wages gradually declined, eventually falling even below their 1979 level. The current war of the United States, Israel, and the Islamic Republic against workers must not be allowed to become another excuse for fixing wages at several times below the poverty line.
What Determines Workers’ Wages?
For centuries, this question has been at the center of the conflict between labor and capital. Economists often try to answer it with formulas and calculations, but in reality wages are determined by something much simpler: power.
Where workers are organized and capable of collective action, wages rise. Where they are weak or unorganized, wages fall toward the level of bare subsistence.
The concept of the minimum wage is the dominant capitalist framework for determining wages. Unfortunately, even many socialist labor activists have accepted it as the ultimate benchmark for wages. Therefore, it is necessary to critically examine the concept itself.
The minimum wage is defined as the wage that allows a worker to cover the costs of subsistence—the minimum conditions required for survival. In economic terms, this corresponds to the value of labor power, meaning the cost of reproducing a worker’s ability to work.
But how is this cost determined?
Jamshid Hadian, the Persian translator of Marx's Capital, explains:
“Like any other commodity, labor power has a definite value equal to the time required for its production. Theoretically, this value corresponds to the minimum subsistence level. But Marx never said that workers’ rights in the real world should be limited to that minimum. The wage level—the working class’s share of society’s wealth—is determined by the strength of the working class’s struggle, a share that can and should increase until workers control all of society’s wealth.”
This raises an important question: Why should wages be defined by a minimum at all?
Workers have no reason to limit their demands to a minimum. Like all human beings, they want a full and comfortable life. The concept of the minimum wage primarily serves the interests of capital.
If employers could freely determine wages, they would reduce them to the lowest possible level to maximize profits. However, they must at least pay enough to reproduce labor power—otherwise there would be no workers left to exploit.
The Absurdity of “Scientific Subsistence”
Attempts to scientifically determine subsistence often lead to absurd conclusions.
The human body requires a certain amount of calories and nutrients: protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. But these nutrients can be obtained in very different ways. One could obtain them through organic vegetables, fruit, and quality meat—or through a few glasses of sugar syrup, some beans, and vitamin tablets.
In wage negotiations, workers’ representatives often try to assemble a “realistic” subsistence basket consisting of the cheapest available foods. But the fundamental question remains: why should workers be expected to survive only on the cheapest foods?
Why should workers be deprived of organic and high-quality nutrition, culture, education, travel, leisure, and technology? If these are part of human life, why should workers be excluded from them?
While this argument is morally compelling, in practice the determining factor remains power, not argument.
Hadian says:
“There is a vast difference between ‘means of subsistence’ and ‘means of life.’ Notice that we never speak of a capitalist’s ‘subsistence.’ The capitalist has a life, while the worker is expected to be satisfied with mere subsistence. When we speak of subsistence, we implicitly accept that workers do not need vacations, higher education for their children, culture, computers, or recreation. Food, clothing, and shelter are deemed sufficient.”
Historically, the concept of subsistence was promoted by economists who defended capitalism. For them, the worker’s right is merely to survive long enough to return to work the next day and reproduce the next generation of workers.
Wage Negotiations in Iran
Every year in Iran, the parties involved in wage negotiations present different estimates of the “real minimum wage.”
Employers and the government try to keep the figure low, while unions—and sometimes socialist organizations—propose a more generous subsistence basket.
But the outcome is almost always the same: the government and employers prevail.
Why?
Beyond the fact that workers are denied the right to organize, the regime’s “worker representatives” accept the minimum wage framework from the outset and sit at the negotiating table within the employer’s logic.
The minimum wage framework does not primarily protect workers—it serves as a tool for the state and employers to regulate the price of labor power.
The Role of the State: The Example of Canada
Even in advanced capitalist economies, minimum wage policies often benefit capital more than workers.
In provinces such as British Columbia and Ontario, governments have raised minimum wages to stabilize the labor market. The cost of living—especially housing—has risen dramatically in cities like Vancouver and Toronto, causing many workers to leave these areas.
If wages had not been increased, the labor market would soon have faced severe shortages, forcing wages to rise much faster than the modest increases proposed by the government.
By raising the minimum wage preemptively, the state acted on behalf of the capitalist class to prevent a sharp rise in wages that could have resulted from market pressure or workers’ protests.
This political function of the minimum wage is not unique to Iran; it is also observable in advanced capitalist economies.
Wage Determination Around the World
In the Scandinavian countries—Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark—as well as countries such as Italy and Switzerland, there is no statutory minimum wage law.
Instead, wages are largely determined through collective agreements between unions and employers. Because unions are strong and organized, these agreements establish high wage floors across entire industries.
Legally, employers could pay very low wages, but in practice they do not—because workers possess collective bargaining power.
By contrast, countries such as Qatar, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Maldives, and South Sudan either lack minimum wage systems or fail to enforce labor laws. Exploitation in these countries is severe because workers are denied the right to organize.
These examples show that the decisive factor in wage determination is not the existence of minimum wage laws but the existence of workers’ right to organize.
The Relationship Between Wages and Profit
Wage rates have an inverse relationship with the interests of capital.
Capitalists try to extract the greatest possible surplus value from workers, which places a limit on wage increases. When workers demand higher wages, rising wages threaten the profit rate.
When this happens, capitalists attempt to defend profits by cutting costs, replacing labor with technology, or raising commodity prices.
This is why inflation, unemployment, and underemployment are often used as tools to discipline workers rather than being purely economic necessities.
The struggle over wages is therefore a direct conflict over the distribution of wealth produced by labor and reflects the structural logic of capitalism.
Forty-Seven Years of Struggle in Iran
Historical evidence shows that organizational power is the key factor in workers’ success.
In 1978, before the February uprising, the monthly minimum wage—adjusted into 2026 dollars—was about $316.
Immediately after the 1979 revolution, it rose to approximately $547 in 1979.
This dramatic increase was not the result of scientific calculations but of a shift in the balance of power in favor of workers, particularly through the emergence of workers’ councils.
With the suppression of the revolution, these gains were reversed.
By 2025, the minimum wage had fallen to about $63, meaning workers’ purchasing power dropped to one-ninth of its 1979 level.
This severe decline has created widespread poverty and social suffering. When delayed wages, unemployment, and inflation are added, the protests of 2017, 2019, 2022, and especially 2025-6 appear inevitable.
To match the 1979 wage level at today’s dollar rate, the base wage in 2026 would need to be 91 million tomans (US $547) per month.
The Role of Inflation and Unemployment
In a debate with Weston, a trade union activist who argued that wage increases cause inflation, Marx responded:
“"wage rises generally happen in the track of previous price rises; namely, the amount of production, the productive powers of labour, the value of money, fluctuations of market prices, and different phases of the industrial cycle. A general rise in the rate of wages will result in a fall of the general rate of profit, but not affect the prices of commodities.”
Inflation—rising prices of goods—reduces workers’ real wages by lowering their purchasing power.
Unemployment increases the supply of labor, putting downward pressure on wages. Employers can impose different wage levels, and many unemployed workers accept wages below the legal minimum or work under training programs, lowering wages across the entire labor market.
The collapse of workers’ wages in Iran is the result of interconnected factors:
* The destruction of workers’ councils
* The prohibition of independent unions
* The banning of strikes
* Persistent unemployment
* Inflationary economic policies
Conclusion
The dramatic wage increase of 1979 was made possible by the creation of independent workers’ organizations during the 1979 revolution. These organizations allowed workers to impose their demands on employers and the state.
The suppression of the labor movement and restrictions on workers’ organization reversed those gains.
Over the past forty-seven years, despite nominal wage increases, workers’ purchasing power has declined dramatically.
Iran’s experience shows that the minimum wage framework cannot solve the wage problem. Employers and the state will not voluntarily provide workers with a dignified life.
The central issue is power, not persuasion.
Only through collective organization can workers impose higher wages and secure a decent standard of living.
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