Minimum wage in Turkey and European Union countries: A Comparative analysis

For the great majority of employee, the wage is both main source of income and also is an important part of production cost for employer. Therefore, minimum wage essentially dictates standard of living is a sensitive issue for the country's economy. Since the beginning of 20th century up to day, to provide a minimum life standards to employee as an important part of social policy programs to offer workers with a decent living, many countries have forced employers to put into practice the minimum wage by laws and constitution. In the light of international arrangement by the international institutions, minimum wage is an inseparable part of domestic laws, but its application and regulation are different and changes by countries. In this study; issue of minimum wage in Turkey which is a candidate country on the road to the EU is being studied and compared to the EU countries regarding similarities and differences. In the first part of this study, theories and its historical development of minimum wage are being presented, and then in the second part, development of minimum wage in Turkey is being studied, and finally the third part analyses and compares applications of minimum wages in the EU countries and the new member countries to Turkey. The conclusion is that there is no any specific common policy regarding minimum wage for the EU countries, and each country has its own specific application based on country's socio-economic conditions. Due to absence of a common policy for minimum wage, Turkey has no any additional specific obligation. For this study application of minimum wage for each member countries of the EU is being compared to Turkey, and some policy suggestions are being presented regarding Turkey's socio-economic conditions for the improvement of minimum wage application.