‘Limited options’ for many Iranians as war with US chokes economy

Tehran, Iran – A Tehran resident named Saeed says he is dismayed as he looks for better-paying employment than his current elementary school teaching job after months of war with the United States and its naval blockade of Iranian ports.

“You take one look at the condition of job postings you can find online or in person, and you will understand why some young people feel like it’s not even worth it going out for work,” the 26-year-old told Al Jazeera. “But the expenses don’t go away.”

People working as teachers, cashiers and salespeople earn a monthly salary of less than 200 million rials ($107 at the current exchange rate), and some jobs even go considerably below the basic monthly minimum wage of about 166 million rials ($88), he said.

“A lot of employers don’t offer insurance and are asking for 12 hours of work per day, sometimes six days a week. They also come up with all sorts of excuses to deduct pay whenever they can, knowing you have limited options.”

Saeed has a master’s degree in Persian literature but said many Iranians like him are now frequently searching for any possible job opportunity, regardless of their area of education or experience, because putting food on the table is exceedingly more difficult.

For a worker earning minimum wage plus receiving government support, 1kg (2.2lb) of lamb can currently consume about 10 percent of an entire month’s wages while 10kg (22lb) of Iranian rice can absorb more than one-fifth. That is not to mention rapidly growing housing costs as well as utilities, transit and healthcare.

When the government approved a 60-percent increase in the basic minimum wage at the end of the previous Iranian calendar year in March – risking the printing of more money and inflation in the process – the cost of a subsistence package required for an average 3.3-person worker household was estimated at 430 million rials ($230).

That was as economic shockwaves from the United States-Israel war on Iran were rippling out and from two state-imposed internet shutdowns, including one during nationwide protests in January when thousands of people were killed . Those factors only compounded the Iranian economy’s systemic woes stemming from decades of corruption and mismanagement paired with decades of US and United Nations sanctions.