Rising Costs Are Making Simple Meals Unaffordable for Iran’s Minimum Wage Earners
The staggering increase in the cost of living in Iran is making staple meals unaffordable for the working class. In Tehran, the price of a grilled minced kebab serving, traditionally considered economical, is between 1.5 to 2 times the entire daily food budget of a labourer.
Iran Open Data’s research indicates that currently, the minimum cost of purchasing a serving of grilled minced kebab in the southern and central areas of Tehran, home mostly to middle-income and working-class residents, ranges between 120,000-200,000 Iranian tomans (about $2.40-$4, at an exchange rate of 50,000 tomans/$1). By law, the current minimum wage for a labourer with one child, including benefits, is less than 7.5 million Tomans per month ($150), or in other words, 250,000 Tomans ($5) per day.
This money is spent on housing, water, electricity, gas, telephone, and other utilities and essential expenses, and, of course, food.
The latest 1401 household expenditure and income data indicates that, on average, 20 to 46 percent of the expenses of urban households is spent on food.
This ratio is the highest for low-income families, who spend up to 46% of their household incomes on food. The average share of the food budget in the lowest three income categories is close to 40%. In other words, low-income households spend a little less than half their income on food. A three-person family with a minimum wage income spends up to 100,000 Tomans ($2) a day on food.
A three-person working-class family would need to go without food for 3 to 4 days to afford 2 orders of grilled minced Chelo kebab.
Which foods are attainable with 100,000 Tomans?
According to various reports, the price of an egg this fall was around 5,000 tomans (about $.10) and the price of a simple flatbread was 3,000-5,000 Tomans ($.06-.10). If we assume that a three-person family consumes 8 eggs and 2 flatbreads for each meal, the cost of one family meal is about 50,000 tomans ($1).
In other words, the daily minimum wage of a labourer, in the best-case scenario, it is not even enough to cover three basic meals.
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