Turkey sends 52,000 laborers overseas

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

A large portion of Turkish employees going abroad work in the construction sector.

Last year some 52,491 Turkish workers migrated abroad for employment, with the majority favoring Iraq, Russia and Saudi Arabia as their destinations of choice, according to statistics from The Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR). İŞKUR helps Turkish workers sign contracts to work abroad.

According to İŞKUR General Manager Nusret Yazıcı, 52,491 workers signed contracts to work overseas last year. Some 10,584 of these workers went to Iraq, 9,265 workers went to Russia and 7,867 workers found work in Saudi Arabia.

Turkish workers overwhelmingly prefer to work in the Turkic Republics and Arab countries, but show the most interest in Germany compared to other European countries.

Most workers who migrate abroad for work are employed in the construction, engineering, infrastructure, assembly, project consultancy, management and repair sectors.

Again, some 9,271 of these migrant workers consisted of unskilled construction workers, 3,527 were die sinking workers, 1,729 were electricians, 1,587 laid pipes, 1,383 were steel workers and 1,167 were assemblers.