State, private sector to share burden from minimum wage raise: Turkish PM

ISTANBUL

File Photo from the Minimum Wage Determination Commission meeting on Dec. 18, 2015, AA Photo.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the burden from the planned minimum wage raise will be shared between the state and the private sector in a speech on Dec. 19. 

“We’ll definitely share the burden that will result in the planned raise in the minimum wage with the private sector. We’ll help minimize the potential negative effects on companies’ competitiveness power from this hike,” he said at the Ordinary General Assembly meeting of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK). 

As part of its pledges ahead of the Nov. 1 general election, the winning Justice and Development Party (AKP) vowed to increase the minimum wage from around 1,000 Turkish Liras to 1,300 liras. The newly-elected cabinet subsequently said it would submit the proposal to the Minimum Wage Determination Commission, after several employers expressed objections to the plan.

He also vowed the government would realize its promises one-by-one in its action plan and expected the support from the private sector in this vein. 

“We’ll do whatever it takes to improve the investment climate in the meantime…We’ll make a number of comprehensive reforms to encourage employment environment,” he said. 

Davutoğlu also said new regulations will be made to meet the private sector’s demand for a more qualified workforce through educational reforms. 

He also said the next High Level Cooperation Council with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras will be held in the Aegean province of İzmir in the first half of February 2016. 

“We plan to start a direct Turkish Airlines flights between Athens and İzmir. The first passenger will be Tsipras, we hope, as a symbolic move on the road of turning the Aegean Sea into a sea of peace,” he added.