Statement on minimum wage hike from Vedat Işıkhan

Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan gave a presentation to members of parliament at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) General Assembly, where the 2024 budget and 2022 final accounts of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security were discussed.

“WE AIM TO REDUCE OUR UNEMPLOYMENT RATE TO 7.5 PERCENT”

In his speech there, Minister Işıkhan argued that in an environment where global and regional geopolitical tensions and economic fluctuations, as well as natural disasters, water, food, and energy crises have created new risks and uncertainties, Turkey has managed to maintain the upward trend seen in employment and labor force participation, stating, “In this context, we aim to reduce our unemployment rate to 7.5 percent by providing 5 million additional jobs by the end of 2028. Our primary goal is to provide job opportunities in conditions where occupational health and safety are ensured, with an adequate income for all segments of society, especially groups requiring special policies in the field of employment and labor. As a Ministry, we come together with our social partners at every opportunity and strive to keep our consultation and dialogue mechanisms alive,” he said.

MINIMUM WAGE MESSAGE

Stating that the increases and improvements they have made to the minimum wage are a concrete expression of the importance they place on employees, Işıkhan said, “We increased the net minimum wage, which was 184 liras in 2002, to 11 thousand 402 liras in 2023, effectively tripling it in real terms. As you know, our minimum wage determination commission began its work on December 11 to determine the 2024 minimum wage. We hope that the decision to emerge from the commission will be a wage level that everyone agrees upon,” he said.

3600 ADDITIONAL INDICATOR STATEMENT

Reminding that they raised the monthly gross base wages of workers to 15 thousand liras at the end of collective bargaining agreements with the 2023 Public Collective Labor Agreement Framework Protocol, Minister Işıkhan continued his presentation as follows:

“With this increase, a 45 percent raise, including the welfare share, was applied to all gross wages for the first 6 months of 2023, and these improvements were also implemented in other items. The 7th Term Collective Bargaining negotiations, which regulate the financial and social rights of our public employees, were held in August 2023. As a result of the collective bargaining agreement, which resulted in a large-scale consensus, an agreement was reached with unions in all 11 service branches, in addition to the proportional raise for the collective agreement as a whole. With the raises made last July, the lowest civil servant salary was increased to 22 thousand liras. The increase rate in the lowest civil servant salary was 142 percent, and the increase rate in the average civil servant salary was 129 percent. We will continue our principle of protecting our employees against inflation with the same determination in the coming periods. With the 3600 Additional Indicator Regulation, which entered into force on January 15, 2023, we ensured the re-regulation of the additional indicators of 5.3 million working and retired public personnel and their beneficiaries. In addition to this, as the government, we will implement the 3600 additional indicator regulation for our civil servants who rise to the first degree as soon as possible.”

Işıkhan stated that they mediated the employment of 1 million 99 thousand people in the private sector through İŞKUR in the January-November period of 2023.

Işıkhan announced that they would implement Household-Based Employment Support Systems that will ensure at least one person in every family is employed, especially young people.

“THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE BENEFITING FROM THE REGULATION WITHIN THE SCOPE OF EYT IS APPROXIMATELY 2 MILLION AS OF TODAY”

Reminding that they implemented the regulation known in the public as EYT (Retirement Age), Minister Işıkhan said, “With the regulation, we removed the age requirement for retirement for our insured individuals as of September 8, 1999, and before. We met this expectation that our citizens demanded. The number of people benefiting from the regulation within the scope of EYT is approximately 2 million as of today,” he said.

5 THOUSAND LIRA PAYMENT TO WORKING RETIREES

Stating that they increased the Ramadan and Eid al-Adha bonuses of our retirees to 2 thousand liras, Işıkhan said, “We made a one-time payment of 5 thousand liras to our non-working retirees. We have completed our preparations to make the payments for our working retirees within two days as the Ministry of Labor and Social Security after the legislative proposal is accepted in the TBMM and published in the Official Gazette. We will continue our efforts to improve retirement pensions in line with the budget in the new year,” he said.

Budget negotiations continued with the presentation of Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy following Işıkhan's presentation.

News Source: İHA