An Analysis of Social Policy: Minimum Wage Practices in Turkey
One of the most important tools used by social policy to ensure peace in working life in a country and to protect its citizens from poverty is the practice of minimum wage. The practice, which means the minimum wage level that can be given to the employee, is a mandatory implementation determined by the councils or directly on the social dialogue mechanism. In Turkey, with a historical background dating back to nearly a century, the practice brings a process within itself, requiring continuous development and improvement.
With this study, conceptual framework and historical development of the minimum wage application were examined and then an analysis was made about the standard of living of workers in our country using the “Life Household Labor Force Statistics” and “Income Life Conditions Surveys”. The practice was exposed to “Policy Analysis” through “content” and “policy process” methods and it was come to conclusion that political pressure and public pressure were determinants on the updates and enhancements performed on the minimum wage in Turkey.
Bir Sosyal Politika Analizi: Türkiye’de Asgari Ücret Uygulaması
Sosyal politikanın çalışma hayatında barışı sağlamak ve yurttaşlarını yoksulluk ve sefaletten korumak için kullandığı en önemli araçlardan bir tanesi asgari ücret uygulamasıdır. Çalışana verilebilecek minimum ücret düzeyi anlamına gelen uygulama sosyal diyalog mekanizması üzerine oluşturulmuş konseyler veya doğrudan yasa ile belirlenen zorunlu bir uygulamadır. Ülkemizde yaklaşık yarım asırlık bir tarihsel arka planı olan uygulama sürekli geliştirilmesi ve iyileştirilmesi gerekli olan bir süreci beraberinde getirmektedir.
Gerçekleştirilen çalışma ile asgari ücret uygulamasının kavramsal çerçevesi ve tarihsel gelişimi irdelenmiş ardından “Hane Halkı İş Gücü İstatistikleri” ve “Gelir Yaşam Koşulları Anketleri” ile ülkemizde ücretli çalışanların yaşam koşullarına dair bir analiz gerçekleştirilmiştir. Akabinde uygulama “içerik” ve “politika süreci” yöntemleri ile “Politika Analizi” ne tabi tutulmuş ve Türkiye’de asgari ücrete ilişkin gerçekleştirilen iyileştirme veya güncellemelerde siyasi ve kamuoyu baskısının belirleyici olduğu tespitine ulaşılmıştır.
The concept of wage is a practice which is as old as humanity. It is seen in the history of civilizations that the products or basic foods were harvested and the payments are made to those who worked in return for the performance of work. The deed of work was also common for life safety or asylum, especially in feudal continental Europe. The fact that wages have reached their current meaning is connected with the industrial revolution. A new social class “proletariat” was born with the change brought about by various technological developments on the production systems, and the classes of the feudal order such as serfs, slaves, feudal lords were also lost among dusty pages of history. Although serf and slavery remained in theory, the exploitation of the proletariat in the process of industrial revolution revealed that the period in which it existed was no different from the past. Labor, which was defined as the person who offered his labor in return for wages, did not take place according to this definition and the exploitation of labor had nothing to lose other than chains of the workers. In this aforementioned process, the strengthening of the left fractions of the exploitation of labor capital adopted by industrial capitalism results in the deterioration of social order, the absence of workers to be employed due to the frequency of occupational accidents or occupational disease. These have become a threat to the capitalist system. With the implementation of a number of improvement and measures, social policy has come into force. Social policy, which can be metaphorized as the “insurance” or “help brake” in of the capitalist system, is a set of practices designed to correct the deficiencies of the system and make it livable. One of the most important application areas of social policy dealing with all social issues in the following years starting from the problems of working life has been the “minimum wage” application that protects employees from poverty.
In general terms, the practice that expresses the lowest wage that can be given to employees under market conditions are the macroeconomic policies of social policy and the policies applied by the public authority and developed in order to provide a dignified and decent life to the employees in which it tries to soften the effects of liberalism and neo-liberalism on the employees.
At the end of the 1800s, the minimum wage practice which was first applied in New Zealand and Australia and then spread to the Continental Europe and the New World was implemented in 1951 even though it was cited since the Izmir Economy Congress of 1923 (ILO, 1981; Kutal). 1965; Korkmaz, 2003).
The fact that the concept aims to protect employees from poverty and lead them to live a life of dignity is often directly related to the monetary amount of the minimum wage set by the social dialogue mechanism. It is important to determine the minimum wage by other factors such as inflation, which will not push people into poverty and also satisfy the social needs as well as physiological needs. The determination of the minimum wage, which is always on the agenda of the human dimension, and also the increase in the wage have become open to discussion.
The aim of the study carried out by us is precisely on this subject. Various analysis methods have been used to determine what the factors are that determine the minimum wage and whether they are due to human perspectives or political competition or public pressure. For this purpose, firstly, the concept is examined in terms of terminology and the concept’s historical development in the world and in our country is shed light. Then living conditions and poverty status of employees in Turkey “Income Living Conditions” and “Household Labor Force” was subjected to analysis by statistics. In this respect, the minimum wage of 1,300.99 TL was for the year in question. In this respect, when the annual net wage income declared by the employees is calculated on a monthly basis, it is observed that the wage amount declared by the employees for living is 4897.84 TL. The declared living wage was found to be approximately 4 times the minimum wage. Again, it was seen that the rental payments of the employees corresponded to approximately 45% of the wages. Another remarkable detail is that approximately 10% of employees cannot participate in social and cultural activities due to financial insufficiency. It has been found that approximately 20% of the employees have disrupted the payment of their credit card or installment debts, 23% of them have disrupted their bills and 10% of their employees have halted their rent and other similar payments. 54.1% of the workers who participated in the survey stated that the whole family cannot have one week holiday with their current wage income. Performed analysis of the current wage level of people in Turkey and the family of the social / cultural needs is not sufficient to meet their shows in a clear manner.
The main purpose of the study can be summarized as revealing the factors in determining minimum wage. In line with this objective, “policy process analysis” and “content analysis, which are policy analysis methods, are used (Gül, 2015). With the analysis of the policy process, Turkish Grand National Assembly minutes since 1956 have been examined in terms of law processes, question proposals, and law proposals and the approaches / attitudes of political parties towards minimum wages have been tried to be revealed.
With the content analysis method, “Election Manifests”, which were shared with the public in the general elections by the selected political parties since 2002, it was examined in terms of taking place and promising form / orientation of the minimum wage.
As a result of the two analyzes, it was seen that different political ideologies in our country have implemented similar policies or promises on minimum wage. It was understood that similar policies regarding minimum wage were established during the periods of statist and liberal governments. With the content analysis process, it was seen that the minimum wage in election promises gained importance in terms of post-2015 promises, and after the 2015 election, the promises of the minimum wages in the manifestos of other political parties were also taken into consideration by the ruling party (the promise of the first increase in political life) after the election.
As a result of the integrated analysis, it was concluded that the minimum wage was increased / improved with political competition and public pressure. In particular, the fact that the minimum wage and the problems experienced by the employees in the working life attracts more attention to the public opinion shapes the government’s minimum wage attitude significantly
