One fourth of Turkey’s over 3.7 million unemployed hold university degrees, according to a report by independent union Sağlık-Sen published on Sunday.
Some 230,000 people became unemployed over the past year, the union’s Chairman Mehmet Bayraktar told independent news site Diken, citing the Sağlık-Sen report based on unemployment data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜIK).
The report arrives as unemployment in Turkey increased to 12.6 percent in November 2018 from 10.5 percent in November 2017. Companies have been laying off staff in what is being called Turkey’s deepest economic downturn in at least a decade.
The jobless rate increased by 54 percent in one year, according TÜİK, reaching more than 3.7 million in January.
Unemployment among those aged 15 or above increased by 706,000 over the last year, the report found.
Unemployment in the 14-24 age bracket saw an increase of 4.3 points in comparison to the previous year, reaching 23.6 percent, according to the study.
”The inability of our educated youth to find employment is a very unfortunate reality,” Bayraktar said.
Unemployment in Turkey is climbing after a currency crisis last year, sparked by concerns about economic overheating and a political crisis with the United States. The economy contracted by a quarterly 1.1 percent in the three months to September and economists have warned of a protracted downturn.
Source: Ahval News
