13 March 2010 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
The number of people who registered with the Turkish Employment Organization (İŞKUR) last year and have as of yet been unable to find a job has reached 1.7 million.
According to data from the organization, of the total number of unemployed who are registered with İŞKUR, some 1.2 million are male and 507,156 of the applicants are female. Sixty-three percent of those currently unemployed and registered with İŞKUR applied to the organization in 2009. A majority of these people who have been waiting for a response from İŞKUR for a year are between the ages of 20 and 34. There are also 3,446 people above the age of 65 in this group. Only 11,226 applicants were lucky enough to find work within 30 days of registering with İŞKUR in the past year. Turkey’s unemployment rate skyrocketed after the emergence of the ongoing global financial crisis. İŞKUR had earlier implemented initiatives to address the problem with vocational training programs in cooperation with local administrations and private firms.
