- 10 million workers in Turkey are working for wages around the minimum wage!
- There are millions of workers who cannot reach the minimum wage!
- A quarter of women workers do not even get the minimum wage!
- The minimum wage fell from 25 Republic gold to 7 gold!
The minimum wage for 2022 will be determined in December. Due to the rapid transformation of the minimum wage to the average wage and the fact that this wage is quite insufficient for minimum living, expectations for the minimum wage are rising. The minimum wage concerns all employees and their families’ living conditions. In the face of the loss of purchasing power due to the high cost and successive price hikes, the minimum wage remains quite inadequate, making a life worthy of human dignity even more impossible.
Due to the rapid depreciation of the TL, in 2021 Turkey is the second country with the lowest minimum wage in Europe after Albania. In addition to being one of the countries with the lowest minimum wage in the European Union, Turkey is the country with the highest minimum wage rate. Those who explain the depreciation of the TL on the basis of the increase in competitiveness and the fact that foreign capital will invest in Turkey, remain silent in the face of the decreasing wages and impoverishment of the working classes in Turkey, which is rapidly turning into a society of minimum wage earners.
Turkey is rapidly transforming into a society of minimum wage earners. The nationwide minimum wage process is accelerating. The gap between the minimum wage and the average wage is closing. Millions of workers work below the minimum wage, or even less than half, despite their legal rights. Minimum Wage Reality 2022 has been prepared by our Confederation Research Center DİSK-AR, by updating the data included in the research published in previous years and providing more detailed data on the scope of the minimum wage. The summary information of the Minimum Wage Reality 2022 report is given below:
The minimum wage is becoming the average wage in Turkey!
While millions of workers in Turkey are trying to live on the minimum wage, which is insufficient for subsistence, millions of workers cannot reach the minimum wage or even get the minimum wage. More and more workers are working for close to minimum wages. Turkey is rapidly turning into a country of minimum wage earners.
The gap between the minimum wage and other labor income is closing:
The fact that the increase in the minimum wage is not reflected in other labor incomes, increases the salary and wage increases at the highest official inflation rate, both in the private sector and in the public sector, making the minimum wage the average wage. The fact that the increase in labor incomes is limited in Turkey causes the gap between the minimum wage and other wages to close and the ratio of those working with a wage around the minimum wage to increase.
There are millions of workers who do not reach the minimum wage:
3.4 million workers (18 percent of all wage earners) earn less than the minimum wage. The number of workers working for less than 1,500 TL is 1.7 million. The number of workers who have to live on minimum wage and below is around 6.3 million (33.8 percent of all wage earners).
Around 10 million workers in Turkey with minimum wage:
The number of workers who are paid 20 percent more or less than the minimum wage is 9.7 million. Nearly 50 percent of all wage earners are in this scope. 64 percent of all wage earners (12.5 million workers) earn between six and a half times the minimum wage.
70 percent of private sector workers on minimum wage:
21.8 percent of private sector workers cannot reach the minimum wage. In the private sector, the rate of those working at or below the minimum wage is 44 percent, and the rate of those working around the minimum wage is 69 percent. More than 8.4 million private sector workers work for 20 percent or less of the minimum wage.
A quarter of women do not even earn minimum wage:
While the rate of those who cannot reach the minimum wage is 18 percent in general, this rate exceeds 25 percent for women. While the rate of those who earn minimum wage and lower wages is 34 percent in general, it rises to 43 percent for women. The rate of women working with a wage around the minimum wage is 60 percent!
Average not minimum wage:
Wages are falling to the minimum wage level. While the average monthly wage and salary income was 2.2 times the minimum wage in 2005, it decreased to 1.7 times the minimum wage in 2019.
The average wage for women is closer to the minimum wage:
While the average monthly wage and salary income of women was 2 times the minimum wage in 2005, it decreased to 1.5 times the minimum wage in 2019. On the other hand, men’s average monthly wage and salary incomes are higher than women’s. While the average monthly wage and salary income of men was 2.2 times the minimum wage in 2005, it decreased to 1.8 times in 2019.
The ratio of minimum wage to national income per capita decreased by 26 points:
The minimum wage, which was 80.6 percent of national income per capita in 1974, decreased to 54.5 percent of national income in 2021. If the minimum wage had increased in line with per capita income, the gross minimum wage should have been 5,645 TL in 2021, not 2,577 TL.
1,195 TL of the gross minimum wage goes to direct and indirect taxes and other deductions:
When we consider the direct and indirect taxes and deductions of the gross minimum wage, 33.4 percent (1,194.9 TL) goes to taxes and deductions. Only 66.6 percent of the gross minimum wage (including the Minimum Living Allowance-AGI) is received by the worker as net disposable income. The worker works 122 days out of 365 for taxes and deductions.
The tax burden of the minimum wage increases:
The amount of tax collected from workers working with minimum wage was increased by keeping the first tax bracket tariff low. In 2002 and 2003, the first tax bracket was 15-16 times the minimum wage. Under the AKP rule, tax slice tariffs were increased less than the minimum wage and inflation. Thus, in 2021, the first tax bracket decreased to 6.7 times the minimum wage.
Minimum wage in dollars at its lowest:
The minimum wage rose from $371 in 2008 to $430 in 2016. Then, due to the economic and political instability, the minimum wage began to decline in dollars. While the minimum wage was 336 US dollars according to the average rate of 2021, it decreased to 270 dollars according to the current rates of November 2021. Thus, the minimum wage in Turkey remained below the Chinese minimum wage.
The minimum wage fell from 25 Republic gold to 7 gold:
According to the annual average Republican gold prices of the Central Bank, 25 gold can be bought with the annual minimum wage in 2003, while in 2021 only 10.4 Republic gold can be bought with the annual net minimum wage and 7 according to current prices.
To access the report as a PDF: http://arastirma.disk.org.tr/?p=7995