CMNT_TITLE

With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report, in particular that relating to the accumulation of resources for the different insurance schemes and to the measures taken to ensure that they are administered properly (Part XIII (Common provisions), Articles 71 and 72, of the Convention). The Committee also notes the information provided by the Government in its 14th annual report on the application of the European Code of Social Security, also ratified by Turkey, together with the information in the appendix to this report. The Committee also notes the observations made by the Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations and the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions supplied by the Government. The Committee wishes to draw the Government's attention to and to receive additional information on the following points:

Part XI (Standards to be complied with by periodical payments), Article 65 or 66 of the Convention (in relation to Articles 16, 28, 36, 50, 56 and 62).

1. As regards the review of the rates of current periodical payments for long-term benefits (Article 65, paragraph 10, or Article 66), the Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government in its various reports on the application of the Convention and of the European Code of Social Security, and in particular the statistics relating to the changes in consumer prices. The Committee also notes the new revaluation coefficients adopted during the periods covered by the various reports. In this regard, the Committee observes that during the period from April 1996 to April 1997, the coefficient used to determine the increase in pensions rose from 1,695 to 3,315, i.e. an increase of 96 per cent. During the same period the increase in consumer prices was 77.2 per cent. The statistics supplied by the Government on the changes in the rates of minimum, average and maximum pensions also confirm that the increase in the cost of living was taken into account, although the rate of the social assistance benefits paid in addition to pensions, was not amended. In order to allow it to verify the manner in which the above-mentioned provisions of the Convention relating to the review of long-term benefits are applied, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide all the necessary information, including the statistics reflecting the changes in the cost of living, in the coefficients and in social assistance benefits in the manner required by the report form under Article 65 (Title VI). The Committee also asks the Government to provide all these data for a single period of reference and to submit statistics on the changes in minimum, average and maximum pensions, on the one hand with, and on the other hand without, the assistance benefits.

Furthermore, the Committee wishes to observe that, despite a particularly high inflation rate, the coefficient for the adjustment of pensions was only increased once in 1996, while in 1995, a year when the inflation rate was comparable, it was increased three times. Consequently, the Committee expresses the hope that the Government will be able to re-examine the possibility of raising the coefficient for the adjustment of pensions at more regular intervals so as to limit the negative impact which any discrepancy between the readjustment of pensions and the increase in the cost of living inevitably has. The Committee requests the Government to indicate, in its next report, any developments in this respect.

2. As regards the rate of benefits, the Committee recalls that it requested the Government to provide, for each of the parts accepted, all the statistics required in the report form. In its report, the Government provides a very large amount of information on the rates of old-age, invalidity and survivors' pensions in terms of the levels and categories to which the beneficiaries belong, and on minimum and maximum pensions. The Government does not specify, however, the information requested on the rate of benefits paid to a typical beneficiary whose earnings are equal to the wage of a skilled manual male employee selected in accordance with Article 65, paragraph 6. As regards the wage paid to such an employee, the report on the Code refers to the results for Turkey of the survey conducted in October 1994 concerning the statistics on wages and number of working hours by occupation published in the special supplement of the 1996 ILO Bulletin of Labour Statistics, which are largely outdated given the inflation rate. The Committee considers that the fitter in the manufacture of machinery other than electrical machinery (heading No. 69 of the economic activities and occupations in the survey in question) could be considered as a skilled manual male employee, as defined in Article 65, paragraph 6(a), although the Government does not refer to it specifically. In this context, the Committee recalls that if, as is the case in Turkey, a maximum rate is prescribed for the earnings taken into consideration in the standards to be complied with by the benefit, the maximum rate should be fixed so that the rate of the benefits prescribed by the Convention is achieved in all cases where the previous earnings of the beneficiary (or his breadwinner) is lower than or equal to the wage of a skilled manual male employee. In the absence of statistics on a reference wage of this kind and on the rate of benefits paid to a typical beneficiary whose earnings are equal to the wage of the skilled manual male employee in question, the Committee is unable to determine whether the level of benefits in Turkey continues to correspond to the replacement rates established by the Convention. The Committee therefore again expresses the hope that the Government will ensure that its next report contains up-to-date information on the wage of the skilled manual male employee (who could for example be a fitter in the manufacture of machinery other than electrical machinery) selected in accordance with Article 65, paragraph 6(a), and on the rate of the benefits which such an employee or his dependants may claim for each of the contingencies arising from the parts of the Code accepted by Turkey for a single period of reference and in the manner required in the report form under Article 65 (Titles I-V). The Committee also recalls that, in establishing the above statistics, consideration must be given to the length of the qualifying periods provided for in respect of long-term benefits (i.e., according to the Convention, 30 years of contribution or employment for old age and 15 years, respectively, for invalidity and the death of the breadwinner, with the benefits paid in case of occupational injuries being allocated without a compulsory qualifying period).

In addition, the Committee asks the Government to continue to provide the following information: an up-to-date table containing the higher and lower indices together with the corresponding average wages; the wage for the years taken into account for the standards to be complied with by pensions and corresponding to the highest index, together with statistics relating to the changes in the coefficient.

Part XIV (Miscellaneous provisions), Article 76. The Committee asks the Government to provide, with its next report, statistics on the number of paid workers covered by the general employers' social security scheme in relation to the total number of wage-earners.