The gap in Turkey between the minimum wage and starvation line has almost almost completely disappeared, according to a new report by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türk-İş).
Monthly food expenditure for a family of four to attain a healthy and balanced diet, a measure of the starvation line, was registered as 4,249 lira ($ 319), a few lira below the minimum wage rate of 4,253 lira ($320), according to Türk-İş’s “Starvation and Poverty Line Survey” for January 2022.
The findings of the Confederation has also shown that the “cost of living” of a single employee has increased to 5,587 lira.
In December 2021, the Türk-İş data indicated that the starvation line stood at 4,013 lira in Turkey while the poverty line stood at 13,072 lira and the “cost of living” of a single worker stood at 4,926 lira.
In its January 2022 report, the Confederation has underlined that “even though there was a sharp fall in foreign exchange rates following the introduction of the foreign exchange-protected Turkish lira deposit scheme in December, the lira has started losing value again.”
Noting that there was a general increase in food prices in December, the Türk-İş has indicated that in the following period, there has been a drop in the prices of some products while there has been no change in some.
Referring to “the almost 25-percent increase in food prices in the last month following the record high exchange rates”, the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions has underlined that “the appreciation of the Turkish lira has almost no positive effect on markets and bazaars.”
“The most important issue on the public agenda was once again the successive increases in prices,” the Türk-İş has noted, adding:
“As a result of the increases in the prices of fuel oil, electricity, natural gas and public transport, it has become all the more difficult for workers and their families, whose biggest and usually the only source of income is the minimum wage, to make ends meet with the minimum wage.”
The Confederation has emphasized that while the minimum food expenditures of a family of four in the capital city of Ankara increased by 3.71 percent in January when compared to the previous month, the price increase in the last 12 months is 59.67 percent. As underlined by the Türk-İş, even the price of a litre of milk has increased to 12 lira in this period.
Moreover, the minimum food expenditure of a male adult has increased to 1,290 lira, that of a woman 998 lira, that of a child at the ages of 15-19 to 1,273 lira and that of a child at the ages of 4-6 to 686 lira.
Bianet-Ahval