Employment incentive for young people, women and first-time workers (2026)

Ferit Bey the hardware shop owner's two candidates

Ferit Bey is looking for someone for the counter at his hardware shop. There are two candidates. Ece is 22, has never worked insured since finishing high school, and registered with İŞKUR two months ago. Kaan is 35, was working insured at a warehouse until three months ago, and has no İŞKUR registration. Both know the work. When his mali müşavir (accountant) said, "From an incentive point of view, the two are very different," Ferit Bey was curious.

Like a student discount: the card must be in your pocket before the till

If you want a student discount at the cinema, your student card must be in your pocket before you reach the box office. Pulling out the card after buying the ticket does not bring the discount back. With incentives tied to the person, too, most conditions are checked on the start date. Registering with İŞKUR after starting work does not bring back the period that was missed.

The youth and women employment incentive (4447 provisional art. 10)

It is popularly known as the "6111 incentive", because it came with Law No. 6111 and is selected on the return with this number (06111). Its basis is provisional article 10 of Unemployment Insurance Law No. 4447.

Its status in 2026: By Presidential Decision No. 10769, published in the Official Gazette dated 25 December 2025, it was extended for people hired by 31 December 2026. For a person hired by this date, the support continues in later years too until its period ends. Whether it will continue for new hires in 2027 is not yet known.

What it gets you: For that employee, the Unemployment Insurance Fund pays the SGK part of the employer share (21.75% in 2026), calculated on the gross earnings you report to SGK (earnings subject to premiums). Only the 2% unemployment insurance employer share is left for you. An example calculation (approximate; non-manufacturing workplace, 2026 gross minimum wage 33,030 lira, excluding the effect of the minimum wage support): without the incentive you would pay 19.75% with the Treasury discount, 33,030 × 19.75% ≈ 6,520 lira. With the incentive you do not pay this amount each month.

Conditions

About the person:

• They must have turned 18.
• In the 6 calendar months before the month they start work, they must not have worked insured at all (4/a, that is, with employee status). Even a single day's notification breaks this condition. Tradesman (Bağ-Kur, 4/b) insurance does not break this condition on its own. This covers people starting work for the first time and people who have been unemployed for a while.
• If they are registered as unemployed with İŞKUR on the start date, the period is extended by 6 months. Registration can be done through e-Devlet; it should be completed before the start date, ideally one day before. Do not employ the person without notification while waiting for the registration: this is unregistered employment and takes away the incentives.

About the workplace:

• You must be a private sector employer.
• Additional employment: The person hired must be additional to the average number of employees over the 6 months before the hiring date. This average is checked again in every month the incentive runs. Example: you had an average of 2 employees over the last 6 months, and when you hire Ece you have 3; Ece counts as additional. If later one of the earlier employees leaves and nobody replaces them, the number drops to 2 and the incentive may stop that month. Months in which no employees were reported do not count towards the average. At a newly registered workplace, or one that has never reported any employees, the average is taken as zero; that is, your first employee counts as additional if they meet the conditions. Still, have your mali müşavir confirm your own workplace's figures.
• The common conditions: filing the return and paying the premium on time, having no overdue debt, not employing anyone off the record (What is an incentive?).

For how long?

Women (no upper age limit) and men who have turned 18 but not 29:

Men who have turned 29: if they have a vocational certificate suited to the job, a vocational-technical education diploma, or a mastership or İŞKUR course certificate, 24 months (30 months if registered with İŞKUR). If they have no certificate, 6 months only if they are registered with İŞKUR on the start date; if there is no registration either, no incentive.

The certificate must be suited to the work you have the person do. If you employ someone with an accounting diploma in the warehouse, the extra period from the certificate may not apply.

Ferit Bey's two candidates, from an incentive point of view

Ece: 22, a woman, has not worked insured in the last 6 months, registered with İŞKUR on the start date, no vocational certificate. From the table, 30 months. With the example calculation above, about 6,500 lira a month. If the 2026 figures never changed, over 30 months it would pass 190 thousand lira; but the minimum wage and the rates change every year, so this total is only a rough example.

Kaan: 35, a man, worked insured until three months ago. He does not meet the "uninsured in the last 6 months" condition. This incentive does not open up for him.

This is not a reason not to hire Kaan. The incentive is a plus that comes after choosing the right person; you make the hiring decision according to what the job needs. Also, discrimination in hiring because of sex or age is forbidden: discrimination by sex is forbidden by Labour Law art. 5, and discrimination by age by Law No. 6701 on the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye (art. 3 and 6). What is done here is knowing which support opens up for the person you have chosen.

If you hire someone receiving unemployment benefit

Under Law No. 4447 art. 50, if you hire someone who is still receiving unemployment benefit, the fund covers most of the premiums calculated on the minimum wage for the remaining benefit period. The conditions: the right to benefit must not have run out, the person must start work at a workplace different from the one where they last worked, and they must be additional to the average of the previous 6 months. This support is not applied together with the Treasury discount for the same days of the same employee. Your mali müşavir calculates the person's remaining benefit period and the amount.

Can they be used together?

Two person-related incentives are generally not used together for the same person; your mali müşavir chooses the most suitable one. How the Treasury discount and the minimum wage support combine with these also depends on the employee's situation. Ask your mali müşavir which one was selected on the return.

Ferit Bey hired Ece. His mali müşavir checked Ece's eligibility for the incentive in the SGK system; "6111" was selected on the first return. Ferit Bey's only job was this: before hiring, to ask about Ece's İŞKUR registration and her last 6 months.