“1 million people eligible for early retirement 5 years sooner”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that small tradesmen in Turkey such as hairdressers, greengrocers, grocers, plumbers and marketers will benefit from a reduction in premium payment days, bringing them in line with the Social Security Institution (SGK) members. This will allow small traders to retire five years earlier. The initiative will cover around one million people and eliminate the premium inequality for tradesmen. Muhammet Bayram, an economist, thinks that the increase given to public workers will be around 40 percent due to the social welfare share increase by the President.
For public workers, there is an expectation of a gross base wage of Turkish Lira (TL) 15,000. The government has offered TL 12,000 and public workers are demanding a 45 percent increase for the first six months and a 5 percent increase for the next six months plus the inflation difference. The final decision on the regulation is expected to be made at the beginning of June.
The lowest pension, which previously stood at TL 5,500, has been increased to TL 7,500. However, those who received a salary over TL 7,500 did not receive an increase, creating wage imbalance. The government has promised that this will be addressed. The regulation is expected to be passed quickly as the Assembly has reopened.
The minimum wage was increased by 100 percent and was set above the hunger limit. TURKSTAT conducted a survey, and the hunger limit in April was determined to be TL 10,000. Economist Muhammet Bayram expects a minimum wage increase of 30 percent to at least TL 11,000. He also predicted that inflation will fall to single digits next year, leading to a decrease in inflation by the end of this year.
