Number of unemployed Turks more than doubled

Turkey’s actual unemployment is double the official figure provided by the Turkish authorities, according to an independent report by the Research Centre of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey.

The broad unemployment rate is 27.4 percent and the number of unemployed is 9 million 837 thousand in Turkey, according to the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions' report.

Raising concerns that unemployment is worse than it was in the first months of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the report has shown that only 18.8 of the 63.5 million people in the working age were in registered full-time employment in April 2021.

Referring to the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate announced by the TurkStat as 13.9 percent for April 2021, the report has indicated that this official figure is narrowly defined, adding that the broad unemployment rate in Turkey is 27.4 percent.

According to the report, the broad unemployment rate among women was 33.4 percent in April. It has raised concerns that women's unemployment is much higher in all types of unemployment.

Drawing attention to the fact that the gap between the narrow and broad unemployment rate has increased to 13.5 percentage points, the DİSK-AR has explained this increasing gap by referring to the lay-off ban introduced in Turkey amid the pandemic.

According to the report, the lay-off ban has kept the narrow-defined unemployment rate at a limited level and decreased the time spent at work.

Experts agree that the Turkish economy, and employment specifically, is not looking promising. A decline in consumption expenditures due to the increased youth unemployment may trigger additional layoffs in the near future.

At the end of its report, the confederation has listed a series of recommendations to fight unemployment, such as a definite ban on lay-offs during the COVID-19 pandemic, an end to arbitrary dismissals, a change in the conditions for benefiting from unemployment fund payments and the amount of money paid and an end to the misuse of Unemployment Insurance Fund.