Employers ask gov’t to continue incentives

ANKARA

The business world has asked the government to continue incentives for the companies in Türkiye on employment and production.

A delegation of the Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations (TİSK), led by Özgür Burak Akkol, chairman of the board of the federation, presented the demands of the business community to Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz at a meeting on Aug. 14.

Akkol said the main issues such as rising production costs, exchange rate policy and shrinking demand were evaluated at the meeting, also attended by Justice Miniter Yılmaz Tunç, Labor Minister Vedat Işıkhan, Industry Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat and other senior officials.

Speaking after the meeting, Akkol emphasized the importance they attach to social dialogue and finding solutions. He added that they exhibited one of the most valuable examples of social dialogue in the meeting they attended with representatives of sectors that shape the economy and development of the country from metal to construction and cement, chemical, textile, mining, medicine, health and tourism.

“In our meeting, we evaluated our main problems such as financing problems, rising production costs, especially of inputs, raw materials, energy and labor, exchange rate policies and shrinking demand,” Akkol said.

“We shared our views that the practices expressed in the public opinion, such as increasing social security costs and canceling incentives, will not be appropriate for both companies and employees, especially for companies that are struggling due to increasing financing costs, exchange rate pressure on exports and increasing international competition.”

The federation chair said that they conveyed the views and expectations of the business community in a “productive meeting.”

According to a written statement by TİSK, the federation expects that the development of new generation work models announced in the Medium Term Program and included in the action plan of the Investment Environment Improvement Coordination Council (YOİKK), as well as the comprehensive legislative work that has been started, are quickly enacted.

“Incentives for employers and employment promotion, in particular the 5-point social security premium support, should be continued,” the federation said.

“In the fight against unregistered employment, decisive steps should be taken to ensure that the state, employees and employers benefit together and formal employment should be encouraged,” it added.

TİSK also asked the government to design programs and incentives to support the structural transformation of labor markets, especially to address the needs driven by digitalization and green transformation.

“We also call for the design of incentive mechanisms to support low-cost production for local enterprises engaged in export-oriented production, the strengthening of the artificial intelligence ecosystem, and the establishment of a public-private cooperation platform for artificial intelligence,” the statement read.

Yılmaz thanked Akkol and his delegation for their opinions and recommendations.

“Undoubtedly, one of the largest shares in the development of our country belongs to the valuable representatives of our business community who add value to our economy and production and contribute to employment,” he said.

“In this context, we attach great importance to the consensus with the representatives of confederations with a participatory approach, and we build development processes together with the vision of ‘Century of Türkiye.’”