BEIRUT — It has been over a year since we last published this cost of living calculator. In that time Lebanese workers’ ability to survive on their salaries has diminished dramatically.

Lebanon’s cabinet is expected to issue decrees increasing the private sector minimum wage to LL4.5 million next week, according to Bechara Asmar, head of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers. The move follows negotiations between labor and business groups late last year. But it won’t be enough to compensate for the lost purchasing power since our first analysis in September 2021.

In September 2021, a minimum wage worker earning LL675,000 on a full-time, 40-hour week needed to work for 1 hour and 4 minutes to afford a large package of bread from a bakery. Under the new proposed minimum wage, that purchase will require 1 hour and 19 minutes of work, despite price controls on bread.

In September 2021, a minimum wage worker needed to spend 47 hours and 59 minutes — more than a full work week — to buy 20 liters of gasoline. After the expected minimum wage increase, they will spend 52 hours 42 minutes on gasoline.

Both in 2021 and today, a full day’s work at the minimum wage cannot buy a single kilogram of ground beef.

Private sector workers are also expected to receive daily transportation allowances of LL125,000 per day, according to Asmar. This would increase their effective minimum pay from LL4.5 million to LL7 million assuming they work 20 days per month. Factoring the transportation allowance into the compensation brings the time needed to earn a package of bread down to 51 minutes, beef to 8 hours 25 minutes, and gasoline to 33 hours 53 minutes.

Caretaker Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram announced Thursday that he signed the decrees raising salaries and transportation allowances in the private sector, and that the decrees were transferred to the cabinet’s secretariat.

At the end of next week, the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers will join the business interest group The Economic Bodies and Bayram for discussion sessions to negotiate a further increase in the minimum wage. Other benefits on the discussion table include the daily transportation allowance, the family allowance, school tuition allowances and retirement pensions, Asmar told L’Orient Today.

He says the new round of discussions is needed because the decrees expected next week reflect agreements made months ago when the lira was LL36,000 to the dollar. “We need to go back and do another increase” in wages and allowances, he said.

To find out how many hours you need to work to buy common household purchases, enter the total number of hours you work per week into the calculator below, then enter how much you are paid per month in each currency.

Try other salary combinations to find out how long others need to work to purchase the same products.

Prices and exchange rates are current as of March 2, 2023.