Page 50 - bneMag February 2021_20210202

50 I Southeast Europe bne February 2021
Jobs are in short supply in Turkey. Analysts say the deficit is reaching crisis proportions.
‘Lost hope’ on Turkey’s jobs market threatens Erdogan
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A122.5% year on year increase to 1.4mn in the number of people
in Turkey who have reported that they’ve lost hope of finding employment points to a stark deterioration in Turkey’s job market caused by existing economic troubles severely exacerbated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
The latest official unemployment data, covering October 2020, also showed 4.1mn people ready to work but not yet looking for jobs, marking an 84% y/y increase.
Economist Seyfettin Gursel of Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University was quoted by Bloomberg as saying the numbers
were unprecedented. “There is another artificial situation in employment data since the [coronavirus crisis-period] ban on dismissals is masking about two million people who were sent on leave,” he said.
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“There is a risk that the bulk of them could be dismissed when the ban is lifted.”
The severity of the worsening jobs crisis is starting to pose a big threat to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Pollster Murat Gezici, head of the Gezici Research Center, told Bloomberg: “A large part of the electorate is experiencing economic problems. Economic policies
of the AKP party government appear to have received low marks.”
Erdogan ‘held responsible’
A Gezici survey in November showed combined support for the AKP and its ultra-nationalist ally MHP falling to 45.4%. Metropoll found in the same month that a third of respondents held Erdogan responsible for the deteriorating economy.
Unemployment among younger Turks now officially stands at 24.3%. Around
“A large part of the electorate is experiencing economic problems. Economic policies of the AKP party government appear to have received low marks"