US embassy cable - 05ANKARA2784

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 002784 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DRL/IL PLEASE PASS TO DOL/ILAB BILL BRUMFIELD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, ECON, ELAB, SOCI, TU 
SUBJECT: LABOR MINISTRY ON UNEMPLOYMENT IN TURKEY 
 
REF: ANKARA 2737 
 
1.  (U) Summary.  The Labor Ministry's ISKUR, the Turkish 
Employment Organization, an agency charged with developing 
and enacting employment policies, is trying to match jobs 
with workers at the micro level to alleviate Turkey's 
official 11.5 percent unemployment rate, which may understate 
the severity of the unemployment problem in Turkey.  End 
summary. 
 
2.  (U) ISKUR, a Ministry of Labor and Social Security 
directorate charged with addressing all issues related to 
unemployment, was established in 1946.  ISKUR has 2000 
employees to handle unemployment issues for Turkey's 
population of 70 million.  It provides vocational counseling, 
supports employment services, advises on legislation, and 
works with Parliament's Family, Health and Labor Committee 
and the State Economic Enterprises Committee.  However, 
ISKUR's inability to match jobs with job-seekers meant that 
as recently as December 2004 there was a back log of 
2,216,000 people seeking and not finding employment -- 13.6 
percent of whom were university graduates. 
 
3.  (U) As noted in reftel, the official unemployment figure 
published by the Turkish State Statistics Institute, which 
indicated Turkish unemployment was at 11.5 percent in January 
2005, may understate the severity of the problem. 
Concurrently 13.1 percent (3,189,000 people) were working 
part-time because full-time employment was not available. 
One Embassy contact, economist and polling company owner 
Tarhan Erdem, suggests the real unemployment rate may be 
closer to 12 million, or approximately one-quarter of the 
work force.  Most economists do not believe the official 
statistics are that far off.  As noted reftel, unemployment 
data are difficult to capture with accuracy in Turkey because 
of high unemployment and the large unregistered economy. 
 
4.  (U)  ISKUR Acting Director General Namik Ata told us that 
700,000 people enter the labor market each year in Turkey, 
particularly in the services sector, which is currently 
providing more job opportunities than other sectors.  Ata and 
other contacts note that the actual number of jobs in Turkey 
is actually increasing, but this improvement in the country's 
unemployment rate is not evident because worker productivity 
is increasing with improved technology and the labor force is 
growing faster than the number of jobs.  Ata also speculated 
that another reason unemployment has increased is because the 
state is no longer creating new jobs. 
 
5.  (U) ISKUR's primary mandate is to find employment for 
workers.  It provides programs to improve workers' 
professional qualifications, albeit at a minimal level.  Ata 
states Iskur received an EU grant of 32 million euros to 
provide training to the unemployed or to people at risk of 
losing their jobs.  For example, in Istanbul, ISKUR worked 
with the Hak-Is Union and the Kagitname Municipality to train 
kapicis (building doormen-superintendants) at risk of losing 
their jobs because their apartment buildings were switching 
from coal to labor-saving gas heat.  ISKUR has also retrained 
textile workers in anticipation of their possibly losing jobs 
as a result of competition from cheaper Chinese imports. 
Ata, stating that a basic problem of the workplace is that it 
does not provide training for the workforce, is a proponent 
of a new trend in the Ministry of Labor to encourage Turks to 
pursue lifelong learning. 
 
6.  (U) Private employment offices opened in 2004 in an 
attempt to alleviate the unemployment problem, but appear not 
to have been very successful.  For example, Enver Celikbas, 
head of Kariyerim Private Employment Bureau in Ankara, could 
only find six jobs for 2400 applicants in the past year. 
Applicants who were offered jobs have turned them down saying 
the wages were too low.  Nevertheless, after an April 19 mine 
explosion in Kutahya, unemployed youths waited in line to 
compete for the jobs of the 18 mine workers killed as a 
result of alleged safety violations. 
 
7.  (U) Labor Minister Murat Basesgioglu confirms the GOT 
plans to unveil a "National Employment Plan" by the end of 
2005.  Economy Minister Babacan has also claimed recently 
that the Government will now focus on employment issues.  As 
part of this effort, Ata is preparing a joint assessment 
document with the EU and will also develop an action plan to 
expand employment opportunities.  Further, TISK (employers 
syndicate) President Tugrul Kudatgobilik worried that 
unemployment had reached serious proportions and if not 
addressed could result in 20 percent unemployment (of an 
increasing larger population base) by 2010. 
 
8. (U) Comment:  Many Turkish officials point to 
under/unemployment as a serious problem, but there are no 
easy solutions given the combination of high employment 
taxes, productivity increases, and a fast-growing labor 
force.  Efforts such as those of ISKUR and the private 
employment offices to find jobs will have little effect until 
the economics of job-creation improve.  Prime Minister 
Erdogan's AKP government promised voters significant 
improvement in Turkey's employment situation within three 
years of being elected.  AKP's three years come due November 
2005; AKP parliamentarians admit there is still little 
improvement and ordinary Turks overwhelmingly say 
unemployment is their number one political issue.  As time 
passes, the AKP government will be more tempted to use 
populist, budget-breaking measures to try to solve the 
problem, which can be expected to create tension with the 
IMF.  End comment. 
EDELMAN