The minimum wage in Turkey will increase by 54.66% from 2023, to reach 8,506 Turkish liras per month (about 430 euros), as announced this Thursday by the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a statement in which he was accompanied by Vedat Bilgin, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, and Özgür Burak Akkol, President of the Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Unions (TISK).
In this way, the minimum wage for workers in the Ottoman country has practically doubled in one year in response to the escalation of inflation in the country, where prices increased by 84.39% year on year in November, after the increase of 85. 51% signed up in October.
In this sense, the Turkish president indicated that, in the event that the situation does not evolve as expected, Ankara would again undertake a new intermediate increase, as happened in 2022, to protect the purchasing power of citizens.
“If we are faced with an unexpected scenario, we will not hesitate to make an intermediate adjustment, like last year”, underlined Erdogan, recalling that with this increase the minimum wage “increased by 94% compared to January of the previous year and 50% compared to July, with an average annual increase rate of more than 70%”.
“I want the new minimum wage to be beneficial for our country and our nation, especially for our employees and employers,” added the Turkish president, noting that the government intervened after a series of meetings in which the Employer and employee representatives could not agree on this.
The Turkish Minister of Labor and Social Security, Vedat Bilgin, highlighted that the minimum wage affects about 37% of employees in Turkey.
“It adjusts all wages, wage structures. Those above the minimum wage gradually enter a process where wages are adjusted again after the minimum wage is determined,” he said.
In turn, the TISK representative expressed the importance of establishing a balanced minimum wage for the benefit of all social partners.
