Over 1.7 million unoccupied job positions in Turkey

Şebnem Turhan ISTANBUL

There are more than 1.7 million unoccupied positions for job seekers, although are around 3.2 million unemployed people, according to official data.

Although Turkey’s unemployment rate has recently climbed to 10.7 percent, there are more than 1.7 million unoccupied positions for job seekers in the country, according to data from the official Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR).

Over 1 million of these positions are for qualified workers. The most in-demand worker candidates are salespersons, for whom there are around 51,000 unoccupied positions, and for security guards, for whom there are around 48,000 positions.

Some 43 percent of the 1.7 empty positions are for unqualified jobs.

Some 7.6 percent are in the construction sector, 20 percent in the agricultural sector, 20.4 percent in the industrial sector, and 52 percent in the services sector. The highest number of unoccupied job positions is therefore in the services sector, which is also Turkey’s largest job sector.

There are around 41,000 unoccupied positions for professional sewing machine users, 38,900 for bureau staff members, 38,200 for waiters and waitresses, and 35,900 for call center staff, according to the İŞKUR data.

There are around 603,627 unoccupied job positions in the industrial sector, around 89,000 in the construction sector, and 3,100 in the mining sector.

Turkey’s unemployment rate increased to 10.7 percent in the November 2014 period, the highest since October 2010, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) revealed on Feb. 16.

Analysts said the rise was mainly caused by the decrease in domestic demand and the increase in labor force participation.

Some 3.1 million unemployed people aged 15 and over were recorded in October, November and December 2014.