What was the minimum wage in 2023?

The economic crisis has long been on the agenda of many Turkish citizens. Recent high inflation, the depreciation of the Turkish lira against foreign currencies and the rise in the cost of living have reduced the purchasing power of citizens. For this reason, the wages of minimum wage workers, hardest hit by the economic crisis, were doubled last year. The minimum wage, which was set at 2,825 lire net at the beginning of last year, has risen to 4,253 lire after being raised in January. However, due to the economic situation, even this historic increase could not solve the financial difficulties of the recipient of the minimum wage. For this reason, a further 30 percent increase in the minimum wage was made in July 2022. Thus, the minimum wage for 2022 has risen to a net level of 5,500 lire. However, the historic increase in the minimum wage has also weakened due to high inflation and the high cost of living.

For this reason, the minimum wage for 2023, to be announced by the Minimum Wage Commission, has been eagerly awaited for a long time. It was expected that the new minimum wage would be announced at the third meeting of the commission, which took place on 20 December. However, no consensus was reached at the meeting. For this reason, the curious expectation of millions of minimum wage recipients continued for some time. However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his party plans to announce the minimum wage today at a parliamentary group meeting. The long-awaited news has finally arrived. President Erdogan has announced a new minimum wage. Accordingly, the minimum wage was raised to a net level of 8,500 lira, more than 70 percent more than last year’s average. Let’s look at the details together…

The Minimum Wage Commission, made up of 15 representatives of workers, employers and the government, held its first meeting on 7 December.

The commission met for the second time on 14 December. At the meetings held, the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ) and the Confederation of Trade Unions of Turkish Employers (TİSK) exchanged information and outlined their demands. However, after the meetings, the minimum wage for 2023 was not announced.

Vedat Bilgin, Minister of Labor and Social Protection, said that an agreement would be reached at the third meeting, “We are considering a wage that will give the worker a sigh of relief. On Tuesday we will reach an agreement in the negotiations on the minimum wage. We will compromise on the level of wages our workers expect and our employers can pay.” made a statement. After that, the eyes of millions of low-paid workers turned to the third meeting, held on December 20 …

The 3rd meeting of the Commission for determining the minimum wage was held at the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population.

The meeting of the commission consisting of employees, employers and government officials began at 14:00. After the meeting, which lasted about 3 hours, it was expected that the minimum wage for 2023 would be announced, which directly affects millions of minimum wage recipients and indirectly all of Turkey. However, after TÜRK-İŞ announced that it would not accept an offer below TL 9,000, the meeting ended without a consensus.

In this regard, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday at a meeting of the parliamentary group of his party: “Perhaps tomorrow, I hope, we will explain the issue of the minimum wage by meeting with my minister today and we will put him on the path.All eyes were on the announcement to be made today. The long wait for millions of minimum wage recipients has finally come to an end, and the minimum wage for 2023 has been announced.

Following the increase, the minimum wage in force in 2023 has been set at TL 8,500 net.

The Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ) has previously announced that proposals below 7785 Lira will not be evaluated.

TÜRK-İŞ Chairman Ergün Atalay rated 7,785 lira as a “red line” and said: “We cannot accept a figure below that. This figure is a red line. We will not discuss the topic below this number.” used words. However, Atalay’s statement caused a strong public reaction because 7,785 lira was the hunger limit set by TÜRK-İŞ. However, in today’s meeting, Atalay, “our offer is 9,000 lire, if they accept it we will sign it, we will not be on the table for the number below” made a statement.

However, prior to the meeting to determine wages for the new period, various unions were expecting much higher wages. For example, the Confederation of Trade Unions of Human Rights Defenders (HAK-İŞ) demanded that the amount be 10,000 TL in 2023, and Nakliyat-İş, a subsidiary of DİSK, demanded that the new minimum wage be at 14,800 TL net. However, after today’s meeting, it was announced that the new minimum wage will be 8,500 lire. Thus, the expectations of many trade unions were not met…

The employer’s representative demanded that the new minimum wage be “reasonable”.

Ozgur Burak Akkol, Chairman of the Board of TİSK, “The minimum wage is the base wage. It must be reasonable. We also encourage our employers who have the ability and power to pay more.he made a statement.

The government wing, on the contrary, drew attention to the agreement between the employer and the employee. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,We acted in agreement with the employers on the minimum wage. We have recently partnered with our employers from setting minimum wages to determining tax brackets. As we all know, social unrest is inevitable when dialogue between workers and employers is weak and relationships are unhealthy.” used words.

The announced minimum wage for 2023 was below the opposition’s expectations

The Republican People’s Party stressed that the minimum wage in the new period should be above 10,000 lira. The IYI party, on the other hand, has stated that the minimum wage should be at least 9,600 lire. However, the amount to be in effect in 2023 was announced at TL 8,500 and thus the new fee fell short of the opposition’s expectations.

The expectation of the minimum wage for those who went through a difficult period due to the poor economic situation was about 9,000 lire.

For this reason, the increase in the minimum wage to 8,500 lire with the new increase did not live up to public expectations.