hi all

can anyone tell me the average wages for a teacher and for a nurse in turkey?

thanks for reading.

emma. x

I can tell you that. I'm a teacher for 10 years and 8 of those where in Turkia. Today the average wage for a teacher is 820 YTL per month.

A newly started teacher will get about 770 and a 10 year experienced teacher gets 860 YTL. There is also a small bonus for the workhours after 15 hours per month. Most teachers work 30 hours per week and they get about 200 YTL extra for the months when they actually work (not when the schools are off). A nurses sallary would be smillar to a teacher's but without that extra bonus.

These are internet prices in Turkia:

Unlimited connection is as follows:
512 KB speed > 88 YTL (67 USD)
1 MB speed > 150 YTL (114 USD)
2 MB speed > 239 YTL (182 USD)

The average cost of renting a flat is 350 YTL per month. Landline phone will cost about 50-70 YTL and electricity will cost about 30-50 YTL per month.

Oil is the World's most expensive in Turkia and there are many taxes for car owners. This means add a minimum of 40 YTL per person per month travel cost to that list.

thank you for the information! x

I have been wanting to know the standard of living in Turkey.

After reading this thread, it reall confirms my knowledge of the standard of living. Conclusion is, wages are low but things are expensive.

yes, and Turkey is not an exeption...

Last December was my first time in Turkey. I was quite alarmed to find out that the things there were quite expensive.

Well, maybe its not a good judgement as I didnt have enough time to explore more places/shops. But those apparel shops which I saw selling trendy clothings were priced quite high. Even for someone like me who have travelled to different parts of the world, i felt it was expensive. At that moment, I "thought" the people in Turkey were paid well at their work to afford such luxury goods.

But I was wrong. In fact, I felt "why" is it that way? That is...some people are not earning alot while some even have difficulty finding jobs and yet things are expensive.

Hi erdinc,

Thanks for sharing. I felt I learn something new again about Turkey. So on a scale of 100%, how would you rate the % of the poor, middle, high income people in Turkey. Ok maybe not Turkey, just focus in Istanbul?

thanks for all the information! x

This is a good question. It is also a popular discussion in Turkia. There are statistics on this issue. The main source is Devlet İstatistik Enstitüsü (The Official Institute of Statistics).

This is their offical website in English:
http://www.turkstat.gov.tr/

Here are latest figures:
http://www.die.gov.tr/english/SONIST/sonist.html

Here is "The Results of Income Distribution"
http://www.die.gov.tr/ENGLISH/SONIST/GELIR/gelir.html

Here is the latest statistics on this issue:
http://www.die.gov.tr/ENGLISH/SONIST/GELIR/k_270206.xls

They are deviding the total population to quintile (a fifth of total). The richest quintile gets %46 of national total income and the poorest gets %6.

In other words, when considering the total incomes in Turkia for a year, half of it goes to %22 of the population and the other half goes to %78.

erdinc Thanks again. Will check out the sites you mentioned.

Gosh, in my country when it comes to paying tax. No one dares to escape from it. You can get charged for not filing the income tax.

I have to call the authority and make sure the documents were sent to me so that I can fill it in. (thats the olden days, now we do e-filing. You are given a login ID and password, login, enter details and CLICK! There goes your form and of course deduction of the tax from your account) And I have to ensure that it was submitted on time.

These links are very helpful, and I've pasted them into my Turkey folder bookmarks.

Throughout my visit, I was amazed at how well of many people seemed in many cities. I find it surprising that mortgages are not given by banks in turkey, and that people actually have to pay for a home or car with cash! I can't fathom how someone could come up with 100,000 USD- to buy a home, but it seems many do.

I was surprised also not to see any homeless people. In Phila, and many other cities poverty is very visible.

Greetings,
I found new figures about income levels. The biggest worker's union Türk-iş makes researches on this issue for years. They have two income limits that they keep updated.

One is "açlık sınırı" (starvation limit) and the other is
"yoksulluk sınırı" (poverty limit) of income.

According their researches %18 of the population lives under starvation limit and %37 lives under the poverty limit.
The poverty limit is 1867 YTL per family.

If they don't start collecting income tax and if they don't start setting economical law sentences to economical crimes (this is rarely the case) then the poor will get poorer by these indirect taxes.

The only thing that is relatively cheap in Turkia is bread. When I buy bread in Turkia I sometimes see people buying five or more breads. They have nothing better to eat than bread.

Many local authorities in Turkia have founded bread factories. They have hundreds of small shops all over the city where they sell cheaper bread.

Here is one example. They are the biggest in İstanbul in this field.
"established by the İstanbul Great City Municipality"
http://www.ihe.com.tr/english/default.asp

Here is one from Ankara:
http://www.ankhalkekmek.com.tr/main.asp

The poor people don't understand anything from income levels or from income tax or from indirect taxes. The only thing they understand are the price of bread. If the price is good they will again vote for the same party.

But interesting thing that I saw in Turkey is buying things by instalments, even shoes or T-shirts. I found it good, because in this way even not rich student can afford buying something. In Poland you can buy only expensive things, like cars or fridges by instalments. And only very well earning people can get a credit card in Poland.

In Turkia getting a credit card is very easy but using a credit card can be very troublesome.

You almost need nothing. The banks are doing everthing to give you a credit card. They are giving away credit cards on a desk on pavements as pedestrians are passing by. I'm not kidding.

On the other hand using a credit card can be very troublesome in Turkia. The banks charge too much interest.

One way or another, following this trick or that trick at the end it is always the same story. They charge you %10 per month. I know people who spend lots of money every month just to pay the interest.

If you owe the bank 3000 YTL (and there are thousands of people who owe that much) then you pay 300 YTL interest every month. If you earn 1000 YTL a month thats a huge money and with the remaining money you can hardly live let alone paying your main debt.

Too many people have commited suicide just because credit card debts.

10%! That is extortion! I can't believe they charge so much . So, even if you managed to pay off your 3000 YTL in a year, your total amount paid would be 6600 YTL?? The trouble is, many people still think of credit cards as a sign of status and wealth. I thought UK credit card companies were bad, but that is unbelievable!

We have very different countries for comparison, Erdinc. England is great country for living, but Poland isn't very different from Turkey...
You are right about credit cards, but someone who has 3000YTL debt jus didn't think at all while spending money...
On the other hand, in Poland I can't buy expencive shoes or dress unless I don't have enough cash.
Having credit card one has to be very careful. But Turkish seem not to think much when they buy things.
charges in Poland are also very similar.

I heard about those wages. I compared to one of my friends and if I would work fulltime in my un-educated waitress job, I'd earn almost twice as much in Holland, wehreas the friend had a job after studying!!

Seticio is really right about the comparison being made.

For Turkish standards, I come from a very rich family. And my dad is a teacher!! I can easily make 700YTL a month in Holland, in an uneducated job, if I'd work fulltime. But for Dutch standards, I'm just an average girl. I don't buy so many designer clothes, I don't go out every weekend, going to the cinema costs me around 18YTL and the popcorn is at least 8YTL. Holland is an expensive country and our fuel is in the same price-category as Turkey (this even reached a Turkish newspaper ).

But I wonder about the Turkish payment system. Kadir has many bankaccounts and a creditcard. I understood it had to do with interest. I have just one bankaccount and I know nothin about interest! So what's it about? It's not like you use a different bankaccount for a different shop, or is it??

No, you don't need many bank accounts. It is just that the banking system is different in Turkia.

In the UK when I wanted to open a bank account and the bank has given me an appontment to next week and I should come with a few papers and I should see a certain person in a certain branch. I was in shock when I heard this.

In Turkia I would open a bank account in any bank the minute I walk in to any branch without any questions asked and by just showing my ID. In Turkia you can open a bank account in all major banks with a short time depending on your walking speed from a bank to another.

Elisa is right. And it indeed is called taksit. I saw it everywhere too in Izmir.

In Holland we only have it on expensive things like LCD Televisions, computer related things, refridgerators. Things you might suddenly need when they get broken, but are too expensive to buy just at once.

I wondered also this thing: In Holland you can have an 'abonne' on a phone-company: you pay them around 40YTL each month and for this money you get credits ánd a free phone. The newest models can be picked, but you have to be attached to the phonecompany with 40YTL for 1 or 2 years. Do they have this in Turkey too?

My provider offers me a nice service though:
when you subscribe to the "Ay Yıldız" formula, you can phone to Turkish landlines for 0.15 euros per minute, cell phones is 0.35 euros per minute, and an sms to Turkey 0.15 euros. Great service, and it doesn't cost me anything extra. Reason for this service is that there is a very large Turkish community here, so that provider discovered a gap in the market there..

If you are in the UK and have a phone with inclusive minutes you can use a company called Your Call (www.yourcallworld.com) to phone Turkey for free. The access number is a UK mobile number and then you dial the Turkish number. It works with Orange, T-mobile and Virgin to landlines and mobiles and O2 to landlines. I think vodafone charge. Also my Turkish friend has an English simcard in another phone. I can send free sms to him as part of my inclusive texts but he would be charged if I call him on it.

If talking about bank accounts: is it possible for a student like me, goint to Turkey for 5 months with a student visa, to open an USD or EURO account in a bank in Turkey? I need it to get money from Poland without wasting a part of it by changing from USD or EUR into YTL in a bank...

Maybe easier, but the bank in Turkey will take a charge for every operation of taking out the money, and the USD or EUR courses in banks anre generally lower than in exchange offices. I won't have much money so every euro will be precious for me...

Well, in my case, keeping my Dutch bankaccount will be cheaper than opening a Turkish one: even if you have a Turkish bankaccount that accepts euros/dollars, your parents will have to pay for sending you the money anyway.

If you take out ALL your money at once in the bankomatik, it's cheaper then having your parents to pay for sending the money to your turkish bankaccount plús paying the exchange rates in an office or bank.

I don't know about Poland, but this is how it is for me. Ithink for each country it counts that you have to pay for sending money to an account in a different country.

you could use one of those american express travellers cheque card things? not sure if you're parents could top it up online or from poland? worth looking into!