The post-revolutionary transitions in the Iranian economy have been manifested in some dramatic changes in the structure of the labor force. A prolonged economic crisis of the post-revolutionary type followed the 1979 revolution. This economic crisis resulted from the disturbance in the social order, giving rise to the withdrawal of capital and disruptions in market institutions. In the first post-revolutionary decade, these disturbances led to serious interruptions in the accumulation process, and consequently to a sharp decline in output and employment. We have argued in this study that this general condition of economic disorder is tantamount to a shriveling of the capitalist relations of production and expansion of petty-commodity production, accompanied by an increase in redundant service activities. We have called this type of transition "structural involution," characterized by de-proletarianization of labor, a decline in wage-related activities and in wage income, and an increase in the peasantization of agriculture. In this analysis, we have demonstrated the manifestations of a widespread "structural involution" both in the urban and rural economy and all the major sectors of the economy (manufacturing, construction, services, and agriculture). Our analysis has focused on changes in the employment status of the Iranian labor force, noting, most importantly, the significant decline of wage employment in the private sector and the substantial increase in the number of self-employed workers. We have also shown that, although in this period the number of government employees increased sharply, the decline in the number of wage earners in the private sector does not represent a shift of employment from private to public wage employment. The most substantial increase in the number of those working for the government resulted from an increase in the number of public employees in "public administration and defense," and other activities that do not compete with the private sector, while the economy suffered from a high rate of unemployment. Thus, the most important explanation for the decline in wage labor in the private sector is found in the expansion of petty-commodity production, as manifested in the increase in the number of self-employed workers.
