Turkey must capitalize on job chance: UN

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s population under age 14 and above age 65 in 2050 will be 18 million each, according to a recent estimate. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK

Turkey’s population growth rate is declining but the working age population will keep increasing until the end of the 2040s, which creates a “demographic window of opportunity” for Turkey, according to a report jointly drafted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Turkish Industry & Business Association (TÜSİAD). Speaking at a meeting where the report was made public, TÜSİAD head Ümit Boyner said yesterday that the demographic window of opportunity is a unique period seen once in a country’s history.

Quality counts

“Turkey has the required potential to benefit from this demographic window of opportunity. Creating employment is one of the most important conditions in order to benefit from this opportunity.
Employment-friendly amendments should be made to creat jobs,” Boyner said.

Professor Aysıt Tansel, one of the report, said she did not agree with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s three-child proposal, adding that a high population does not mean anything unless people are qualified and employment is created for those people.

A series of reports titled “Demography and Management Toward 2050” was revealed yesterday in Ankara with the participation of the UNFPA Turkey representative, Zahidul Huque.

She said 100 million people would be living in Turkey by 2050. “These changes in demographic structure bring both opportunities and challenges.”

According to the report the productive population or working-age population – people aged between 15 and 64 – is continuing to increase although rate of young people in the whole population decreases.

It has been estimated that Turkey’s working age population, which is some 53 million currently, will reach its all-time high number of 65.3 million in 2041, and the demographic window of opportunity will start to close from this date on.

Turkey should put more emphasis on women’s and youth employment for those groups to benefit from the demographic window of opportunity, the report drafted by Tansel said.

Education policies should be formed to meet the demands of the labor market, according to the report.