No increase in sight for minimum wage in Turkey

* Vedat Bilgin / Twitter

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Amid increasing inflation rates in Turkey, it has long been debated whether the minimum wage will be increased again. Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Bilgin has also joined the debate.

The last increase in the minimum wage, which is increased once a year every December, was made in Turkey in December 2021. However, in January, it had already reached the starvation line only to drop 300 lira below the starvation line a month later, in February 2022.

Speaking during a program in Turkey's southeastern Antep province, Minister Vedat Bilgin was asked, "Will there be an increase in the minimum wage in July?" Bilgin dropped the subject by saying, "I don't find the debates meaningful; we made a significant increase".

Arguing that they "have increased the minimum wage by more than 50 percent for the first time in the Republican history," he said that the government "did the necessary through the inflation differential".

"In such cases, both employees and employers need to be considered. Because when the minimum wage is increased, the costs of employers are increased as well," the Minister indicated further.

Bilgin also noted that "while several countries such as the European countries and the US have had troubles during the pandemic, Turkey has grown by 11 percent". The Minister argued that "we will all see that the inflation rate will drop degree by degrees in the upcoming period".

He added that "growth and employment is the method to eliminate the effects of global economic destruction as a country".

Government's statements led to expectations

The statements made by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well as some government officials and AKP politicians led to expectations that the minimum wage might be increased again amid increasing inflation.

In a recent statement, Erdoğan said, "We know that the major trouble and complaint of our citizens is the high costs of living. It is our duty to not let our citizens be crushed under the burden of inflation".

In response to a question as to whether the premiums of pensioners and minimum wage will be increased again, AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik said, "It is an issue that has been worked on for a long time. We have announced it as the People's Alliance. It will be unveiled when it is ripe".

Submitting legislative proposals over the past 3 months, the main opposition CHP has recently proposed setting the minimum wage every 6 months while the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has recommended that the minimum wage should be adjusted every 3 months in Turkey.

It is below the starvation line

According to the February 2022 data of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türk-İş), the starvation line of a family of four is 4,522 Turkish Lira (TRY), which is 300 TRY more than the minimum wage in Turkey. Poverty line is almost 4 times the minimum wage in the country.

In January, the starvation line was 4,249 TRY, the poverty line was 13,843 TRY and the "cost of living" of a single employee was 5,587 TRY.

According to the official statistics of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 4.81 percent monthly and by 54.44 percent annually in February 2022.

On the other hand, according to the Inflation Research Group (ENAG), an alternative platform which has been sharing consumer inflation data for some time now, the monthly inflation was 5.44 percent and annual inflation was 123.8 percent in the country in February 2022.

It used to be set twice a year

The Article 39 of the Labor Law stipulates that "the minimum wage shall be set once in two years at the latest", which shows that it is not stipulated by the law that the minimum wage is determined once a year. In fact, until 2016, the minimum wage had been set twice a year.

What needs to be done is to convene the Minimum Wage Determination Commission at the request of Minister of Labor and Social Security.

CLICK - Poverty line is almost 4 times the minimum wage

CLICK - ENAG: Annual consumer inflation rate tops 123 percent

(HA/SD)