DİSK-AR Report: Inflation and Tax Burden caused a Loss of Nearly 1 Trillion TL in Workers' Wages

ISTANBUL - The Research Institute of the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions (DİSK-AR) has published the "Wage Losses Monitoring Report", revealing the economic meltdown experienced by workers in Turkey. According to the report, in the first seven months of 2025, the total loss in workers' wages due to high inflation and unfair tax cuts reached an unimaginable 972 billion TL. This reveals that almost 40% of the gross amount of workers' wages has been eroded by taxes, deductions and inflation.

Inflation and Tax Bill: 972 Billion TL

DISK-AR's report analyzes the effects of inflation and tax burden on workers' wages separately and cumulatively. Accordingly, in the first seven months of 2025, the cumulative bill of inflation on workers' wages amounted to 525.5 billion TL, while the cumulative bill of the unfair tax system was 446 billion TL. The total loss in the two items reached 972 billion TL, almost 1 trillion TL.

The report emphasizes that this huge loss represents a significant transfer of income from workers to the wealthy. Inflation, it says, works like a "suction pump that impoverishes the working class" and the unfair tax system further deepens income inequality.

Big Losses in Minimum Wage and Average Wage

The report draws attention to the fact that the lack of an interim increase in the minimum wage in July has further increased the losses. Only in July 2025, the loss of the minimum wage against inflation was calculated as 4,218 TL.

Average worker wages have also been affected by this erosion. A worker earning 47,750 TL gross wage, the cumulative loss in the first seven months of the year reached 58,450 TL. The tax payment, which was below 3 thousand TL in January, approached 5 thousand TL in July, while the total amount of deductions increased from 10,100 TL to 12,129 TL.

Call to Government and Employers

The DİSK-AR report shows that the real purchasing power of wages is rapidly declining, with data covering about 17 million insured workers. The report points out that not only monthly but also cumulative losses have reached frightening proportions. It is stated that the monthly loss due to inflation alone reached 114.3 billion TL in July, while the total loss due to tax and inflation reached 198 billion TL. This calls for urgent and concrete action to halt the erosion of wages. The report calls on the government and employers to make the necessary adjustments to protect workers' disposable net real wages.