While the scope of the employment protection program in the manufacturing industry, which was implemented in labor-intensive sectors last year, was expanded, the implementation period was extended. In the regulation jointly published by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development and Support Administration in March, support was foreseen for businesses that maintain employment between January 1, 2026 and December 31, 2026. With the new regulation published recently, the duration of the support program has been changed in parallel with the periods in the temporary article 35 of the Unemployment Insurance Law No. 4447. The article in question envisages providing support of up to 15 percent of the Unemployment Fund's revenues to businesses that maintain employment between January 1, 2026 and December 31, 2028.
There has been a contraction in employment in the textile and clothing industry for a while. With the decision taken last year, a monthly support of 2,500 TL per worker was introduced to businesses that maintain employment in the textile, clothing, leather and furniture sectors. At the beginning of this year, this amount was increased to 3,500 TL.
In the regulation published in March, it was required that the employment in the month to benefit from the support should not fall below the average number in November-December 2025. A change has been made in this regard as well. Accordingly, the average number of monthly premium days for the reference periods determined by the Ministry of Industry and Technology will be taken as basis. Employment will be deemed protected if the number of monthly premium days in the month for which support payment is requested is equal to or above the average monthly premium days of the reference period.
Support will be given for the days that workers actually work. While the daily support amount will be 116.67 TL, the employer will receive 3,500 TL support per month for the employee who works for 30 days.
The cost of a minimum wage worker in the manufacturing sector to the employer is 39,223 TL. With the support provided, the cost of a minimum wage worker to the employer in these four sectors decreases to 35,723 TL.
1.2 MILLION WORKERS ARE WORKING IN FOUR SECTORS
The number of workers, which was 1 million 196 thousand in December, reached 1 million 209 thousand in June in four sectors where monthly support of 3,500 TL per worker was provided. Considering that the number of workers in these sectors has decreased in recent years, it is important that the number of workers increases this year, albeit symbolically.
CREDIT SUPPORT TO THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR THAT PROTECTS EMPLOYMENT
In accordance with the new regulation, businesses in all manufacturing industry sectors will be provided with the opportunity to use fixed and variable cost loans. The condition for this will be the protection of employment.
The loan amount to be provided in this context will be calculated based on the premium earnings amount reported by the enterprise to the Social Security Institution for the workers. The credit limit of businesses with low debt ratios, R&D and design centers or operating in technoparks will be increased by one fold.
If manufacturing industry investments are moved from the first region provinces to the 4th, 5th or 6th region provinces or districts, a loan opportunity will be provided in the amount of 6 months' wages of the additionally employed workers. The loan can have a principal payment grace period of up to six months and a maturity of up to 36 months. Up to 15 points of the loan interest will be covered by the ministry. SMEs and large-scale companies will be able to benefit from this financing opportunity with a rate of 37 percent for fixed-cost loans and TLREF+1 for variable-cost loans.
The Ministry of Industry and Technology will cover 12 points of the financing cost of the loans used by businesses that maintain the average employment level of January - June this year in the July - December period. In this way, the annual financing cost for fixed-cost loans will decrease by up to 25 percent.
Applications to benefit from the loan started on September 1. Applications are made through the online application portal created for the support program.
CONVENIENCE FOR INDEBTOR BUSINESSES
Loan support is not normally provided to businesses that owe money to tax offices and the Social Security Institution. However, these support payments can also be made by offsetting the business with its tax office and SSI premium debts.
