Bargaining begins for minimum wage: Workers have lost 5,000 liras in purchasing power

The Minimum Wage Determination Commission will meet for the first time today to determine the minimum wage that will be applied in the new year.

The 17,002 lira minimum wage, which the commission set for 2024 and for which no mid-year raise was granted in July, has practically evaporated in the face of inflation over the past 11 months.

As of the end of November, the purchasing power of the minimum wage had eroded by 5,105 liras, falling to 11,897 liras.

In other words, workers are sitting at the table 5,105 liras in the red. This loss will rise to 5,395 liras in December, or 46.49 percent in percentage terms.

According to calculations by Erdoğan Süzer from Sözcü, even if the commission does not grant a raise similar to a welfare share, it needs to increase the minimum wage to at least 24,906 liras just to compensate for the proportional loss experienced.

However, it is estimated that the government, which ties the hands of workers by insisting on a raise based on target inflation rather than realized inflation, will leave the minimum wage in the red with a raise lower than 46.49 percent.

NEGOTIATIONS WILL BEGIN WITH 11,607 TL

The month-by-month loss of the minimum wage earner is reflected in the accounts as follows:

The purchasing power of the minimum wage, which was announced as 17,002 liras in December last year, had already eroded by 1,068 liras in the very first month due to the massive 6.7 percent inflation experienced in January, falling to 15,934 liras.

Due to high inflation in the following months as well, the purchasing power of the minimum wage fell to 13,204 liras in July with a loss of 28.76 percent.

However, despite this loss, no mid-year raise was granted to the minimum wage.

The commission, which is meeting today to determine the new minimum wage, will actually be negotiating a raise for a minimum wage whose purchasing power has fallen to 11,607 liras, assuming that December inflation will also come in at around 2.5 percent, rather than the 17,002 liras.