Starvation line tops the minimum wage by 675 lira in Turkey

* Photo: Tez-Koop-İş Union

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The Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türk-İş) has shared the results of its "Starvation and Poverty Line Survey", which it regularly conducts to illustrate the economic conditions in which citizens live.

According to the March 2022 results, the amount of minimum monthly food expenditure to be made by a family of four to have a healthy, balanced and adequate diet (starvation line) has increased to 4,928 Turkish Lira (TRY), which is 675 TRY higher than the minimum wage.

The expenditures to be made by a family of four for food, clothing, housing (rent, electricity, water and fuel), transportation, education, healthcare, etc. (poverty line) amount to 16,052 TRY, which accounts for nearly four times the minimum wage that currently stands at 4,253 TRY.

The 'cost of living' of a single employee has increased to 6,473 Turkish Lira (TRY), which is 2,200 TRY higher than the minimum wage.

According to the Türk-İş data, the expenditures to be made by a family of four for food has increased by 8.24 percent in a month while it has increased by 76.39 percent over the past 12 months.

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. In February, the starvation line increased to 4,552 TRY, the poverty line to 15,139 TRY and the cost of living of a single employee to 5,969 TRY.

'Social aid receivers doubled'

Commenting on the above survey results, the Türk-İş has underlined that the increases in fuel prices have been affecting everyone as fuel is the most basic input in the prices of all goods and services.

Raising concerns over the successive increases in the prices of diesel, gasoline and other energy resources as well as food products, the confederation has underlined that the worsening living conditions are becoming more burning for citizens when coupled with lira's loss of value.

Citing the data of the Central Bank, the Türk-İş has said that as of February 18, the expenditures made by credit cards hit a record-high with 46.4 billion TRY: "While the shopping for food increased to 2.5 billion TRY, grocery shopping increased to a record-high 8.9 billion TRY".

Referring to the Eurostat data, the confederation has recalled that in 2020, Turkey ranked first with 37.3 percent in the list of the countries 'that could not afford to eat meat dishes, chicken or fish every two days' while the European average stood at 8.6 percent.

Also, according to the Presidency's 2022 Annual Program, the number of citizens receiving social aid has doubled in a year.

The Türk-İş has stressed that in order for a single minimum wage earner to lead a humane life, s/he has to find an additional 2,220 TRY.

Concluding the statement, the confederation has drawn attention to the price increases faced by agricultural producers and farmers and warned that "if measures are not taken, it may be very difficult to forestall the meat, milk and dairy prices in the upcoming months and to enable the farmers who have moved away from production onxe to start producing again".

"Besides, the limitations on the purchase of oil, sugar and tomato paste in markets may also be the case for other food products," it has added. (HA/SD)