Over half of women at work unregistered in Turkey: Data

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

This file photo shows tea workers in Hopa, Artvin. Almost half of female employees work informally in Turkey, according to state-run statistics body data.

Almost half of female employees work informally in Turkey, according to state-run statistics body TÜİK’s data compiled by Anadolu Agency.

Over half of women who are employed, 52.6 percent, work informally. The ratio of informal employment to the total employment decreased to 37.6 percent in April from 38.8 percent the same month a year earlier.

There are 25.7 million employees above the age of 15, of whom 37.8 percent (9.6 million) work informally, the data for April show. While there are 17.8 million male employees, 31 percent (5.5 million) of them work informally. However, of the 7.8 million female employees, 52.6 percent (4.1 million) of them are informal workers.

The unpaid family workers make up the major part of informal employment. A significant majority, 91.8 percent, of around 3.2 million unpaid family workers work informally. While this rate is 83 percent for men in this category, it rises to 94.5 percent for women.

Those who are not registered at any social security institution, but work in their own job, also constitute a large proportion of informal workers. While 58.9 percent of around 3.9 million men, who work in their own job, work informally, 88.9 percent of the 888 women in this category work informally.

A minority of 20 percent of casual and paid workers and 16 percent of employers were not registered to any social security institution.