Business

Turkiye: Minimum wage price increase has been announced

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “We are making an interim increase of 30%, effective from July. Accordingly, the new minimum wage will be net ₺5 thousand 500.”

The process of minimum wage negotiations, which concerns the general public, especially about 7 million minimum wage workers, has come to an end.

The Minimum Wage Determination Commission, which held its first meeting at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, continued its work closed to the press yesterday to determine the amount of interim increase.

While TURK-IS, representing the workers’ section in the commission, demanded an increase in the inflation rate, the Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Associations (TISK), representing the employers’ section, demanded a balanced increase, taking into account the conditions of the businesses.

After the commission completed its work yesterday, the new minimum wage was determined today.

Minimum wage hike announced

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a statement at the Dolmabahce Office with the Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Bilgin, TISK President Ozgur Burak Akkol and Turk-Is Chairman Ergun Atalay.

Vedat Bilgin, Minister of Labor and Social Security, said, “Our Minimum Wage Determination Commission has done its work, we will protect our workers against inflation as we did yesterday.”

TISK President Ozgur Burak Akkol said, “Minimum wage is a starting target. I urge our businesses, which have the opportunity to exceed the determined figure, to be exceeded. The issue of not being taxed on the part of the wages of all employees up to the minimum wage will continue.”

TURK-IS Chairman Ergun Atalay said, “I hope today’s figure will be a figure that will please the society.”

“Inflation is not only our country’s top priority but also the world’s top priority”

President Erdogan said in his speech:

Turkiye has been implementing a program developed by itself for the economic traps it has been exposed to for a while. While this program was carried out successfully, it had negative consequences due to the epidemic and war. Inflation is a top priority problem not only for our country but for the whole world.

“We did not leave anyone helpless with our social support programs”

We are in an effort to make our country with the most gains by implementing our economy program with determination. At a time when the global production and supply chain collapsed, it came to the fore both by meeting its own needs and sharing it with other countries. We have considered many measures. We did not allow employment to decline by supporting production in every field. In addition, we did not leave anyone helpless by expanding the scope of our social support programs.

“We will make the main arrangement at New Year’s Eve”

We made significant increases in our employees at the beginning of the year. We did not put the burden of the increase on the employer completely. In addition to the minimum wage, we spent a portion of the minimum wage for our employees. We will do the actual arrangement at New Year’s.

More than 40% increase in salaries of public employees

However, we also determined that the hump caused by the last December-January months caused these increases to be insufficient after a while. Thereupon, we asked our friends to start making the necessary preparations immediately. An inflation difference of over 40% will already be made in the salaries of our public employees and all our retirees. We have seen that our minimum wage earners also need to compensate for their losses. Our Ministry of Labor and Social Security immediately called the Minimum Wage Commission to a meeting with our instruction. As a result of the work carried out by our Ministry in consensus with all parties, we determined a new minimum wage figure.

“We are making an interim increase of 30%”

We are making an interim increase of 30%, effective from July. Accordingly, the new minimum wage will be net ₺5 thousand 500. Our state will provide ₺100 support to employers per worker. I wish the new minimum wage to be beneficial to all our employees and to all segments whose income is indexed to it. With the implementation of the exemption of income equal to the minimum wage, this increase will be reflected to public employees and retirees as an average of ₺300.

Source: Trthaber / Translated by Irem Yildiz

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button