Inflation has devoured incomes
High inflation and unfair taxes are eroding labour incomes. The four-month inflation loss in the minimum wage has reached 2,953 lira. According to DİSK-AR, the total inflation loss in labour incomes amounts to 176.6 billion lira. The biggest loss was suffered by workers, amounting to 100 billion TL.
Economy Service
DİSK-AR has published the Wage Losses Monitoring Report, aimed at tracking monthly losses in labour income due to taxes, deductions and inflation. The report reveals that high inflation has led to enormous losses in labour incomes. According to official data from TÜİK, the cumulative inflation rate for January, February, March and April 2025 was 13.36 percent. This four-month period resulted in a total labour income loss of 176.6 billion lira.
The average per capita loss due to the four-month official inflation was calculated at 4,492 lira. This loss was estimated at 5,197 lira per worker, 8,744 lira per public servant, and 2,584 lira per retiree.
The report also states that the inflation loss on the net minimum wage of 22,105 lira was 2,953 lira, reducing the effective value of the minimum wage to 19,151 lira.
TAX DEDUCTIONS ADDED
The report highlights that wages in the country are typically 1.7 to 1.8 times the minimum wage, drawing attention to the losses experienced by those earning just above the minimum wage. As of January, February, March, and April 2025, the net amount of a gross wage that is 1.5 times the minimum wage (39,008 TL) was calculated as 31,400 TL. This means that 7,608 TL of the wage went directly to taxes and deductions, and after the four-month inflation loss, the real net wage dropped to 27,205 TL. The total loss from deductions and inflation amounted to 11,803 TL.
The report also points out that as wage levels rise, so do deductions. It calculated the tax and deduction burden as well as the inflation loss on a gross wage three times the minimum wage, which is 78,017 TL. Due to entering the 20 percent income tax bracket in April 2025, the total tax and premium burden increased for this wage level. The deductions on the gross wage, which were 18,729 TL in February 2025, rose to 20,776 TL in March and to 22,044 TL in April.
In April, from the gross wage of 78,017 TL, 22,044 TL was lost to taxes and deductions. The loss due to inflation was calculated as 7,478 TL. As a result, the real net wage of a worker earning three times the minimum wage dropped to 48,495 TL. The total loss from deductions and inflation amounted to 29,522 TL.
INCOME DISTRIBUTION BECOMING EVEN MORE UNJUST
The conclusion of the report emphasises that inflation and the unfair tax burden have caused major losses in labour incomes. The DİSK-AR report highlights the cost of high inflation in the first four months of the year, stating: “Because wages are fixed while prices are free, labour incomes are being crushed under inflation. The government's economic policy, which aims to suppress purchasing power and wages, results in the burden of inflation being placed on labour incomes. The combination of inflation and an unjust tax-deduction system erodes labour incomes, making income distribution even more unequal and deepening poverty.”
Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Enflasyon gelirleri yedi, published in BirGün newspaper on May 8, 2025.
