Page 25 - TURKRptJul20
P. 25
A total of 0.7mn people received unemployment pay of TRY1,239 in the month while another 102,000 people applied for the unemployment payment.
In addition, 1.5-2mn people received social support.
The so-called layoff ban provides employers with the opportunity to send their employees on unpaid leave, with the government paying TRY1,253 in compensation. However, a figure of 102,000 new applications suggests that some firms preferred to pay the TRY2,943 punishment or claim that their employees had not complied with ethics. This is one of the all-too-familiar legal loopholes in Turkish law. This one allows the employer to fire employees despite the “layoff ban” if they do not act in line with some undefined ethical requirements.
As a result, the coronavirus outbreak caused the loss of at least 6mn jobs and ‘wide-scope unemployment’ passed 13mn, suggesting an unemployment rate of 39%, according to labor union DISK.
Turkey is to de-activate a temporary pay system used over the past three months to top up workers' lost wages, its labour minister said on June 17.
The minister, Zehra Zumrut Selcuk, told the state-owned Anadolu Agency news service that 400,000 people left the “short labour pay system” in the past
25 TURKEY Country Report July 2020 www.intellinews.com
