Minister of Labor: Increasing workers’ wages does not cause inflation

According to Fars News Agency’s economic correspondent, Hojjatullah Abdolmaleki said today at the end of the six-month exhibition of the achievements of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare at the ministry about the effect of 57.4% increase in minimum wages next year and the effects of inflation: It happened, for the first time, that something good happened to the working and production community, because several scientific and advisory groups were present with labor and employer representatives, and contrary to some people’s beliefs, government representatives were present only for coordination. Research agencies such as the Parliamentary Research Center, the Statistics Center of Iran and the Central Bank also provided relevant statistics to these representatives.

He emphasized: According to the labor law, two criteria are considered to determine the minimum wage of workers and the living basket of the working family and the inflation rate of the Central Bank.

The Minister of Labor also emphasized this point: ‌ This year, first, we reached the conclusion a few days earlier and the minimum wage was set on March 10th. It was signed by all labor and employer representatives. The government also approved it. The bill addresses the welfare of workers and increases the purchasing power of workers relative to inflation this year by 9 percent.

“The point is that increasing workers ‘welfare boosts production, because workers usually spend whatever they earn, which increases demand in the economy and corporate profitability, and this year’s decisions have a limited effect on inflation and workers’ wages in general,” he said. It is not inflation, but factors including increased liquidity, ‌ exchange rate jumps, brokerage and speculation, and lack of market dominance that cause inflation. In this government, the market is controlled and the creation of money in society is managed. So we do not expect high inflation next year.

Abdul Maleki said: “The increase in workers’ wages has not and will not lead to a jump in inflation, and it is believed that the increase in wages will not lead to significant inflation.”

Asked about inspections of workshops to prevent workers being laid off, he said: “Inspections are carried out as usual and inspections will increase next year.”

Regarding the achievements of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, which were exposed to everyone at the exhibition for two weeks, he said: “A small part of the efforts of our colleagues in the past six months in the form of 214 achievements in four areas of business.” , Home business licenses, people’s welfare and people’s future were displayed. In home-based businesses, 150 licenses were issued immediately. In other cases, three-day business licenses were also issued. The National Atlas of Employment Plan was also unveiled at the exhibition.

According to the Minister of Labor, in the future of the people, pension systems and social security, special patients were covered by insurance, and for the first time, infertility insurance was established in this government. Iranian household insurance and student insurance were also established. Good things have been done to alleviate poverty.

He added: “At the Ministry of Labor, we manage the property of the people in the form of 600 companies under the pension and social security funds.” We also set up a combustion system to fight corruption.

The Minister of Labor also said: 220 new drugs were made in social security companies, of which 35 drugs were offered to the community for the first time. Also on the sidelines of the six-month achievements exhibition, 300 events and memoranda of understanding were concluded with various sectors, including the first mobile operators and banks and free zones to develop employment. Also, in a memorandum with the Quranic community of the country, for the first time, insurance coverage for the Quranic community was defined and on average, about 10 events were presented daily in this exhibition.

In another part of his speech, Abdolmaleki said: The Ministry of Labor consists of three ministries of Labor, Cooperation and Social Welfare, which include about 65 million Iranians, and for this reason we have named it the Ministry of People.

He said: “In this ministry, there are 5 large and important funds under the administration of social security, and 50% of the Iranian people are somehow connected with this large organization.” The Social Security Fund, the State Pension Fund, the Social Insurance Fund for Farmers, Villagers and Nomads, and the Steel Pension Fund are managed under the Ministry. There are also two banks, the Welfare of Workers and the Development of Cooperatives.

He added: “Under the mentioned 5 funds, there are 600 companies, of which 380 companies are managed and controlled.”

The Minister of Labor said: “Previously, there was no coordination between different departments, so that sometimes the subdivisions complained to each other and lost hundreds of billions of tomans, but now all these subdivisions were put together within two weeks.”

The Minister of Labor continued: “The first six months were actually the time for us to warm up, and in the second six months we should be more motivated to serve the people.”

He added: “The exhibition of the achievements of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare is currently being held in a different way in the parliament for the deputies.”

According to Fars, at the end of the ceremony, all the Deputy Ministers of Labor were thanked for attending the exhibition.

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