Turkey Economic Enterprise and Business Ethics Association İGİAD: “Employee’s Wages Should Be Compatible With Human Dignity!”

As a result of the research carried out by taking the 12 different regions in the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) Statistical Region Classification into account, İGİAD announced the humanitarian living wage as 3 thousand 192 TL for 2020.

Humanitarian Cost of Living (HCL) Determination Commission under the Turkey Economic Enterprise and Business Ethics Association (İGİAD) has been doing researches in every December for sixteen years in the framework of the question of what the minimum wage for a family with two children in different regions of Turkey would be. Based on the calculation of the monthly humanitarian cost of living of a family of four with two children, this research includes the family’s costs of food, clothing, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, furniture, home appliances and home care, health, transportation, communication, entertainment and culture, education services and other expenses. The commission announces the Humanitarian Cost of Living (HCL) report which includes the answer to this main question in the first week of January. Education expenses, social security and tax payments paid by the state are excluded in the calculations made based on TURKSTAT data,

According to the report announced by İGİAD yesterday, the (minimum) humanitarian cost of living (including perquisites such as premiums, bonuses, benefits etc.) required for an employee to maintain a family in Istanbul is 3 thousand 192 liras. İGİAD recommends this figure to employers as the amount of humanitarian cost of living to be paid to the employees.

Stating that the Humanitarian Cost of Living had been determined for 12 different regions of Turkey this year, and that the Humanitarian Cost of Living for Istanbul was 3 thousand 193 liras, IGIAD Chairman Ayhan Karahan said: “The Turkey average of 2020 Humanitarian Cost of Living is 2 thousand 676 liras. It is important for the government to take the range determined by IGIAD every year into consideration while determining the minimum wage, as well as reducing the tax burden on the minimum wage from both the employer and the employee and switching to the regional minimum wage. 

Emphasizing that HCL is calculated with real figures based on the expenditures of the employees; Karahan stated that the application of HCL among the enterprises does not increase the cost but increases efficiency and abundance.

Member of HCL Determination Committee and Rector of Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Dr. Adem Korkmaz said: “HCL, determined by İGİAD, is based on the monthly minimum human cost of living, where a family with two children can live in dignity and live humanely. The wages of the employee should be compatible with human dignity, should be based on not the efficiency but on the life of the employee, should meet the average economic and social needs of the employee and reflect the welfare level of the society in which he lives.

Since 2004, İGİAD’s work for Istanbul with the name of Minimum Cost of Living has been revised as Humanitarian Cost of Living in 2014 and more advanced methods started to be used in the calculations. HCL started to consider 12 different regions included in the TURKSTAT Statistical Region Classification.