CHP leader pushes for 30,000 lira minimum wage increase

Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel on Nov. 3 stated that the net minimum wage should be raised to at least 30,000 liras ($873) in the new year.

Speaking during a press conference in Istanbul, Özel said, “Inflation seems to be around 50 percent, with a base effect of 40 percent. But they are planning to give a 20 percent raise according to the targeted inflation.”

There are speculations that the government will increase the minimum wage based on the “expected inflation rate” rather than the actual one as part of the economic program aimed at lowering inflation.

The latest hike was made in January 2024 as the government increased the minimum wage by 49 percent to 17,002 Turkish liras ($495).

“If they increase the minimum wage according to inflation, it will be 25,000 liras. If they apply the perceived inflation, it should be 35,000 liras. We say, ‘It should be at least 30,000 liras. (The government) aims for a minimum wage of 20-22 thousand liras. There will be a big struggle for this,” Özel said.

The government and the labor unions will start their negotiations in December for the minimum wage of 2025.

The Turkish government increased the minimum wage twice in 2022 and 2023 in July amid the soaring inflation and cost of living crisis as well as as an investment for the 2023 elections. The government refrained from doing so in 2024.

Despite the loss of the AKP in the 2024 local elections for the first time in its 23-year history, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated the continuation of tight monetary policy which is mostly burdened by the low and middle classes.

The state-run Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported annual inflation at 49.38 percent for September, whereas independent inflation research group ENAG put the figure at 88.63 percent.