By Kayhan Life Staff
Teachers’ monthly salaries in Iran have plummeted from the equivalent of $636 in 2016–17 to the equivalent of just $109 this year, amid hyperinflation and a collapse in the exchange-rate value of the currency, according to an Iranian trade report. The essential monthly living costs of a three-person household in Iran are estimated to be around $400, according to analysts — meaning that a teacher’s monthly income covers only about a week’s worth of household expenses.
The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA, also known as Sitta) presented these figures in a report documenting the collapse in teachers’ purchasing power over the past decade and called for an immediate pay rise.
According to the report, a teacher’s monthly salary in 2016–17 was equivalent to $636. Today, in October–November 2026, it is worth just $109, or less than $4 a day. Purchasing power has fallen approximately sixfold over the past decade, with 40 percent of that decline occurring in the past seven months alone, as salaries fell in dollar terms from $184 in March–April to $109 today.
The council said its calculation is based on the Ministry of Education’s official average salary of 29 million tomans, equivalent to nearly $111 at the current exchange rate of 262,000 tomans to the U.S. dollar. Trade union activists say, however, that most teachers receive around 25 million tomans a month, worth just over $94.
Teachers’ daily pay is approximately $50 in Turkey, $22 in the Republic of Azerbaijan, $17 in Armenia and between $8 and $15 in Iraq. In Iran, it amounts to just $3.60.
The council stressed the “necessity of immediately adjusting teachers’ salaries in line with inflation and the real cost of living.”
Inflation, which has hovered near 100 percent for months, has sharply eroded the real value of salaried workers’ incomes and further weakened their purchasing power. Wage earners are demanding pay rises, but the government is resisting.
Teachers are not alone. Workers, nurses and retirees have long complained about meager wages, saying their incomes cover only a week’s worth of living expenses.
Yaghoub Delshad, a labor activist based in the northeastern province of North Khorasan, explained: “With rising prices and falling purchasing power, we expect at least 10 million tomans ($38) to be added to workers’ wages in the second half of the year, so that part of their lost purchasing power is compensated.”
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The labor activist added: “Article 41 of the Labor Law stipulates that wages should be set in proportion to the inflation rate and the cost of living of a worker’s household. Therefore, enforcement of the law should not be limited to the annual wage-setting period, and the new economic conditions must also be taken into account in decision-making.”
Delshad emphasized: “Workers understand the special circumstances of production and of the country, but the cost of the problems and the wartime conditions should not fall solely on the shoulders of workers and low-income groups. The Supreme Labor Council (SLC, operating under the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs) should settle the question of adjusting wages as quickly as possible, given the social and economic consequences of declining purchasing power.”
Retirees, too, are struggling with minimal incomes despite high living costs, including medical and pharmaceutical expenses. In recent months, despite the security climate imposed on the country by the Islamic Republic of Iran under the pretext of war, retirees covered by the Social Security Organization (SSO) and other pension funds have held hundreds of gatherings in cities across the country, demanding higher pensions.
Under official wage regulations, workers’ monthly earnings amount to approximately 25 million tomans (just over $94), assuming they receive all applicable benefits, from child allowances to housing allowances. Social Security retirees’ pensions are set at the same level as workers’ wages, while many government employees and retirees receive similar amounts.
Jalil Haji Hosseini, an attorney, told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) on Nov. 1: “In return for the labor he provides to the employer, a worker is entitled to wages, and the legislator has set minimums to prevent his rights from being violated. From this perspective, adjusting wages in a situation of sharply reduced purchasing power should first and foremost be treated as a matter related to the legal rights and livelihood of the workforce.”
