Women to see positive discrimination through Turkey’s ‘employment movement’ campaign: Minister

Nuray Babacan - ANKARA

Labor and Social Security Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu has vowed that 1.5 million jobs will be created in line with the Turkish government’s recently launched “employment mobilization” campaign, saying in particular that women would benefit from positive discrimination in these new jobs. 

The cabinet will also seek to help disabled people and ex-convicts join the workforce in the campaign, which was recently heralded in a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in which he said all employers should create “at least one new job.” 

“Some 100,000 of the estimated 1.5 million jobs will be reserved for three groups. We will expect 50,000 of these jobs to be explicitly offered to women, while four-fifths of the other 50,000 jobs will be offered to disabled people and one-fifth will be offered to former prisoners,” Müezzinoğlu told reporters on Feb. 9. 

Addressing the economic council of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) on Feb. 7, President Erdoğan had called on businesspeople to step up in an “employment mobilization” campaign to create new jobs to enliven Turkey’s stuttering economy, urging city governors to supervise the campaign. 
“Today we are launching a new employment campaign with all members of the TOBB. I hope to get results that will leave behind the growth records of 2011 or 2010,” Erdoğan said.

“I am calling on our governors, giving instructions. All of our cities will participate in this employment campaign,” he added. 

Müezzinoğlu said the cabinet will offer financial support to each employer who has created new jobs after December 2016. 

“The aim of the employment package is quite clear. If all employers create one new job as of December 2016, some 1.5 million unemployed people will become employed. Some 500,000 of these people will be offered the opportunity to get on-the-job training. We will cover the costs of their three-month training. Their social security and tax costs will also be met by the state if these people are employed permanently,” he added. 

Vocational training to be offered

He also noted that vocational training will be offered to 200,000 other people. 

“We will also allow 150,000 other people to be employed in socially beneficial works, including school cleaning and forestation, with temporary contracts,” said Müezzinoğlu, adding that recent employment and unemployment data has been requested from related institutions to make the plan more effective. 

Turkey’s unemployment rate rose to 11.8 percent in October 2016, marking the highest such rate since March 2010 when it hit 12.8 percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced on Jan. 16. 

The unemployment rate saw a 1.3 percentage point increase in October 2016 compared to the same month in 2015, according to TÜİK, showing that the slowdown in the Turkish economy had continued.

The number of unemployed persons aged 15 and above rose to over 3.6 million in October 2016, 500,000 more than the previous year, pushing the unemployment rate to 11.8 percent.

Meanwhile, many sector associations and companies have voiced their support for campaign announced by Erdoğan. 

The Exporters Assembly of Turkey (TİM) announced that some 300,000 new jobs would be created by the sector, while top furniture and ready-made clothing associations vowed to produce 50,000 additional jobs for each. 

Turkcell also stated on Feb. 10 that it would employ 2,300 people over the course of this year.