Unemployment highest among journalism and arts graduates in Turkey

ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency

Hürriyet photo

Journalism and the arts are the areas in which unemployment rates are the highest among university graduates, according to data provided by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).

Journalism, arts, transportation, environment protection, manufacturing and management have been identified as the sectors where unemployment rates are above the average, according to TÜİK data. Security services, health, law and veterinary medicine, on the other hand, are the professional areas with the lowest unemployment rates.

The number of university or higher education graduates in the workforce is around 4.9 million. However, 503,000 graduates are currently unemployed, corresponding to a rate of 10.1 percent, according to TÜİK’s 2012 data.

Journalism graduates have the highest levels of unemployment, at 22.1 percent.

One in five graduates from university journalism and communications departments are out of work, which means that 3,000 graduates, out of the total workforce in this area of 16,000, are unemployed.
The unemployment rate among the graduates of arts departments is 21 percent, with 30,000 out of 143,000 graduates unemployed.

The unemployment rate in the areas of transportation services, environment protection, manufacturing and management is around 17 percent among university graduates.

This translates as around 4,000 unemployed out of a total workforce of 22,000 graduates across these sectors.

There are around 92,000 graduates from manufacturing and management areas currently in the workforce, 16,000 of whom are searching for employment.

Meanwhile, Turkish Employment Organization (İŞKUR) General Manager Nusret Yazıcı called on university graduates to apply to İŞKUR if they were unable to find a job.

“Beside workers, we will find places for university graduates and white-collar workers. We call on the employers; if you are looking for doctors, engineers, then come to İŞKUR,” said Yazıcı.

There are plans to open İŞKUR communication points on university campuses. “The state universities are allocating rooms for us. We will inform the university students about the positions available, where they are located and in which sectors, as well as about the skills required to find the job they are seeking,” Yazıcı said.