Increase of minimum wage in Turkey and its potential impacts

The ESPN Flash Reports are produced by the European Social Policy Network (ESPN) established in 2014 to provide the European Commission with independent information, analysis and expertise on social policies. The topics presented in the Flash Reports are identified by ESPN experts in the light of significant developments in their countries, or in some cases suggested by the Commission.

The ESPN is managed by LISER and APPLICA, with the support of OSE - European Social Observatory. For more information, please visit this website.
The minimum wage in Turkey was raised by 30% as of January 2016, which represents a real increase of about 22% given the inflation level in 2015. While this measure is expected to increase the real income of a large part of the population, the impact on unemployment as well as on informality in the labour market remains to be seen.

Author: Fikret Adaman and Burcay Erus

• Primary Source