Podcast'Broadly defined unemployment in Turkey at 39 percent'
Broadly defined unemployment in Turkey has reached 39 percent according to the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK). The union disputed recently revealed official unemployment rate of 13.2 percent. DİSK claimed that only those looking for a job for a period of four weeks as unemployed were reflected in the official numbers.
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Turkish consumers’ trust in economy hits historic low amid COVID-19 outbreakRecent official figures from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) indicate that the latest available unemployment rate from March was 13.2 percent. Yet according to DİSK, those numbers do not reflect reality as TÜİK counts those looking for a job for a period of four weeks as unemployed.
Broadly defined unemployment in Turkey has reached 39 percent according to research conducted by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK).
Recent official figures from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) indicate that the latest available unemployment rate from March was 13.2 percent. Yet according to DİSK, those numbers do not reflect reality as TÜİK counts those looking for a job for a period of four weeks as unemployed.
“However, part-time or paid leave schemes have been used, rather than firing people. This makes it seem like millions of laborers are employed though they’re not working. Laborers receiving part-time and paid leave benefits are not counted as unemployed since they are not searching for work,” DİSK said in a statement, referring to the funds used by employers as businesses have lost much - if not all - of their work amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Though 3,971,000 people were unemployed in March according to TÜİK, DİSK claims the actual figure is 13,385,000.
Turkey has had stubborn double-digit unemployment rates for the past several years. The pandemic has further weakened the country’s workforce.
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