3 ms·

>"everyone above 40 is retired" ...does that mean that everyone over 40 gets a government check every month? How much is that payment (relative to say the min

by floxy 3y ago

>"everyone above 40 is retired" ...does that mean that everyone over 40 gets a government check every month? How much is that payment (relative to say the minimum wage)? Presumably those payments not indexed to inflation? So after a couple of years of 100% real inflation, you'd need to get a job anyway?

mrtksn 3y ago
Yes, pretty much as long as you are in the right batch. The new batch of retirees are more like 45 but on previous batches they retired even at 38 and living the sweet life. 60 year olds in Turkey are usually retired since the beginning of the Millenia. They receive a normal pension like everybody. Currently the lowest pension is about at %60 of the minimum wedge but 10 years ago it was well above the minimum wedge. The smallest pension is 10K and the minimum wedge is 17K Turkish lira, which is something like 330USD and 560USD respectively after the latest increase of %50. Many choose to work but its complicated from legal standpoint and some companies forced the retired employees out. As Turkey ages, one can expect that ot will get much worse. The deal is, You must have been working and paying in the social contributions for 20 years straight and be from the right batch(your first contribution must be before the end of 1999 or something like than - not sure about the exact date), so those who started working 20 years ago are all retired in the sense that they receive pension payment and all the other benefits like free healthcare without keep paying in. It's also a common practice to pay a few contributions even if you are still in school so that you can be in an early batch. Anyway, the system was ridiculous and unsustainable so the first Erdogan government early in the 2000s changed it, only to allow one last batch to retire last year during the elections. These people were well organised, had lawyers and NGOs and were fiercely protesting since years. They called themselves something like "Stuck at the age towards retirement". More than 2 million of them, people in their 40s and 50s demanding retirement because "they were promised" when they started working in their 20s. The next batch, that is people who paid their first contribution after 1999, is set to retire 15 years later. Now they are getting organised too, claiming that its not OK to work 15 years just because paid their first contribution one day later. Turkey might become the first country with Universal Basic Income since everyone wants to retire at their 40s and they are serious about it.

by floxy 3y ago

mrtksn 3y ago

Yes, pretty much as long as you are in the right batch. The new batch of retirees are more like 45 but on previous batches they retired even at 38 and living the sweet life. 60 year olds in Turkey are usually retired since the beginning of the Millenia. They receive a normal pension like everybody. Currently the lowest pension is about at %60 of the minimum wedge but 10 years ago it was well above the minimum wedge. The smallest pension is 10K and the minimum wedge is 17K Turkish lira, which is something like 330USD and 560USD respectively after the latest increase of %50. Many choose to work but its complicated from legal standpoint and some companies forced the retired employees out. As Turkey ages, one can expect that ot will get much worse. The deal is, You must have been working and paying in the social contributions for 20 years straight and be from the right batch(your first contribution must be before the end of 1999 or something like than - not sure about the exact date), so those who started working 20 years ago are all retired in the sense that they receive pension payment and all the other benefits like free healthcare without keep paying in. It's also a common practice to pay a few contributions even if you are still in school so that you can be in an early batch. Anyway, the system was ridiculous and unsustainable so the first Erdogan government early in the 2000s changed it, only to allow one last batch to retire last year during the elections. These people were well organised, had lawyers and NGOs and were fiercely protesting since years. They called themselves something like "Stuck at the age towards retirement". More than 2 million of them, people in their 40s and 50s demanding retirement because "they were promised" when they started working in their 20s. The next batch, that is people who paid their first contribution after 1999, is set to retire 15 years later. Now they are getting organised too, claiming that its not OK to work 15 years just because paid their first contribution one day later. Turkey might become the first country with Universal Basic Income since everyone wants to retire at their 40s and they are serious about it.