How much will the minimum wage increase be? Here are the spoken numbers…

The gaze of millions of workers turned to the increase in the minimum wage, which was below the hunger limit in the first month of the year, to be carried out in July.

While the demands of the unions about what the new minimum wage should be, little by little start to arrive; Work on the provisional increase in the minimum wage to be carried out in July has started at the TİSK employers’ union.

While waiting for the cabinet to be formed and the direction of the new economic policies to be clarified after the elections, the business world is also talking among themselves about what the new minimum wage will be or should be.

‘It will be at least 10 thousand 500 TL’

The president of the Chamber of Industry of the Aegean Region (EBSO), Ender Yorgancılar, said that it is premature to talk about the provisional increase in the minimum wage in an environment where the cabinet has not yet been formed and June inflation does not it is safe after the elections; Ramazan Kaya, president of the Turkish Garment Manufacturers Association (TGSD), said that an improvement in the minimum wage in July is high on the business world’s agenda.

Kaya stated that there was talk of a provisional increase in the minimum wage in the range of 25-35 percent in July, which corresponds to an amount in the range of TL 10,500 to TL 11,500.

“We are facing high inflation, an increase in the exchange rate and unemployment. The new minimum wage increase will also put the industry in a difficult situation,” Kaya said, continuing as follows:

“Because the garment industry is already in a very difficult situation with seriously falling demand, we cannot maintain the price. That is why we hope that the support given to the employer will increase the minimum wage”.

MESSAGE OF 12 THOUSAND TL TO THE EMPLOYER UNDER THE CONDITION OF CONVENIENCE

Another name that spoke to Sozcu.com.tr, the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Turkey Services Assembly Chairman of the Board of Directors Hüseyin Bozdağ, said that they are already having difficulty finding employees for 8,500 TL, so the new minimum wage is 10 thousand TL, he said that in case of a new situation, they could pay it, but if new facilities are provided to the employer, this amount could increase up to 12 thousand TL.

Bozdağ said: “However, the increase to the 12,000 TL band without providing new support to the employer tires the sector and negatively affects employment,” Bozdağ said, “We too are drowning in costs at the moment. We have a very high burden of taxes and premiums on us, ”he said.

Bozdag expressed his demands on this issue as follows:

“We always say that the minimum wage tax should be abolished. Let’s give half of SSK’s bonuses to workers, and leave the other half to us by committing, that is, to increase employment by 10 percent by the end of the year, according to our capacity report. We reiterate this request.”

DISC SIGNED 16 THOUSAND TL

Speaking to Sozcu.com.tr, DİSK President Arzu Çerkezoğlu stressed that it is difficult to pronounce a figure for the new minimum wage before the June inflation figures are known, but when we look at the announced data on hunger and the poverty line, the figure that should be is already clear.

Recalling that according to Türk-İş data, the hunger limit was increased to TL 10,362 and the poverty line to TL 33,752 in May, Çerkezoğlu said: “When two people in a family work, they should be able to enter a house at least as much as the poverty line”.

This points to a demand for the minimum wage to be 16,000 TL.

Çerkezoğlu said that the minimum wage must be updated 4 times a year until inflation falls back to single digits, and that certain criteria must be taken into account when determining this salary:

“The calculation must be made in order to reduce the purchasing power of the worker with the minimum wage against real inflation, the dollar exchange rate and gold prices and so that the worker lives with his family, not on the cost of life of a single worker as it is now. Another criterion should be to increase the participation of the worker in the increase and growth of the national income”.

Regarding the Minister of Labor’s statement of ‘500 dollars’, Çerkezoğlu continued as follows:

Although there are statements like “We made a record rise”, those rises remain like an article on water because there is very high inflation. Therefore, instead of issuing a dollar figure, the purchasing power of the minimum wage should be preserved. The country needs to get out of the spiral of high inflation. There is a need for a holistic improvement in the economy.”

I WAS BELOW THE HUNGER LIMIT IN THE FIRST MONTH

On the other hand, declining purchasing power due to high inflation led to a provisional increase in the minimum wage last year for the first time in years.

Thus, the net minimum wage, which was set at TL 4,253.4 in January 2022, was increased to TL 5,500.3 with the provisional increase made in July last year; In January 2023, it increased to 8,506.8 lire.

However, according to Türk-İş data, the minimum wage, which remained below the hunger limit in the second month of the year in 2022, remained below the hunger limit this year before workers caught it. .

Consequently, while the minimum wage was 8,500 TL in January 2023, the hunger limit was increased to 8,864 TL in the same month, exceeding the minimum wage.

WHEN THE MINISTRY OF LABOR SAYS ‘500 DOLLARS’, 9 THOUSAND TL IS 750

President Tayyip Erdoğan, who declared that they would review the minimum wage before the last elections, clearly said: “There is a provisional increase in the minimum wage in July.”

Vedat Bilgin, Minister of Labor and Social Security, made clear statements about the increase in the minimum wage in July, as well as giving a figure on how much it would be.

In early May, “We made an adjustment in January that brought it to the highest level of more than $455 dollars in the history of the Republic. We will do the same in July,” Bilgin said, adding: “The fee will be approximately $500. Our work is done, ”he said.

While Bilgin was making this speech, $500 corresponded to 9,750 TL, as of today, $500 has exceeded 10,400 TL due to the acceleration of the increase in the dollar exchange rate after the elections.