ANKARA
Talks over raising Turkey’s monthly minimum wage have ended in agreement on Tuesday in a deal which will see five million workers receive an increase in their salaries.
The new net minimum wage is set to increase to 949 Turkish lira ($410) per month for workers over the age of 16 for the first six months of next year. This will rise to 1,000 liras ($432) for the second half of the year, Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Celik said on Tuesday.
A fourth meeting of the Minimum Wage Determination Commission in Turkey in Ankara on Tuesday set the new levels.
The commission of representatives from labor and employer unions as well as from the government had already met four times in an attempt to reach agreement on the issue.
The current minimum wage is 846 Turkish liras net ($365) per month.
Next year nearly five million people's salaries will increase by 12.3 percent.
The Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) had recommended a new minimum wage of 1,424.70 lira ($615) per month.
In comparison, Greece, for instance, has an $835 monthly minimum wage, and the Netherlands, $1,800.
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