Erdoğan calls on businessmen to boost employment
ANKARA
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Dec. 14 urged businesses to create more jobs in the upcoming financial year, stressing that the higher-than-expected growth rate announced earlier this week should encourage them to hire more employees.
“We are calling on our businessmen: If every business employs two more people, we will continue to increase from the 11.1 percent. It will also flourish relations between my people and employers,” Erdoğan said at the Employment Council in Ankara.
Turkey’s gross domestic product grew at 11.1 percent in the third quarter, hitting its fastest expansion in six years, data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed on Dec. 11.
However, unemployment remains stubbornly high, at 10.6 percent in the most recent three month period measured and announced in November.
Erdoğan urged members of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) the recent growth in the economy should encourage them to employ at least two people.
“We will further increase the growth rate if every organization employs two more people,” Erdoğan said.
In May Erdoğan had already called on Turkey’s business leaders to hire one extra employee in order to help reduce unemployment.
“If each member here hires one person, we can create 1.5 million new jobs for unemployed people,” Erdoğan said in a speech on May 8, addressing TOBB.
“It would be record-breaking if 1.5 million people were provided jobs in 2017. These kinds of developments are the best responses to those who have been shouting there is a crisis [in Turkey],” he said.
“I have one more request. TOBB, which has 1.5 million members, had asked each of its members to employ one person at the beginning of the year. Now that our growth rate has doubled, if we can provide further employment it will further accelerate our country’s growth rate and drive crazy those who are jealous of this country,” he said.
He added that there will be more incentives to increase employment.
“For every employment, wages up to 4,740 Turkish Liras will include insurance premiums. The subsidies for insurance premiums and taxes will continue every month for a year,” Erdoğan said.