Unemployment in Turkey: Over 6 thousand applicants for one vacant position

Thousands of unemployed people in Turkey applied just for a couple of dozens of vacant positions to be employed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports
Friday, 01 March 2019 13:14

Within this week, the crisis of unemployment in Turkey became visible once more with similar scenes from different parts of the country.

12,272 people made a job application for vacant positions in late February for only 57 workers in the Turkish city of Kayseri, while 6198 unemployed people applied for only one vacant position for a cleaning worker in the city of Zonguldak.

The Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports in Kayseri made an announcement of 57 vacant positions, including a handicapped cleaning worker, cleaning workers with criminal records, security employees, heating workers and plumbers, electricians and lifeguards. 12,272 people applied to the employment agency in the city for the vacant positions.

The names of the applicants were drawn in the presence of a notary public in order to determine the workers who would be employed in the institution. Thousands of applicants and their families waiting for the draws were told that those who were in the list would be called for job interviews in the upcoming days.

As the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports made a similar employment announcement in the northern city of Zonguldak in late February, 6198 people made an application just for only one vacant position for a cleaning worker.

After the announcement made by the Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports in Zonguldak for vacant positions including a cleaning worker that had over 6 thousand applications,  9290 people in total made applications for the vacant positions for 38 workers. The names of the workers to be employed were determined again by draws at a sports hall in the city. 

According to the Research Center of Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), the broad unemployment rates show that 6.64 million people were unemployed in November 2018 in the country. The report that was announced on February 15 states that the rate of broad unemployment hit 19.3 percent as the people in general have been suffering from increasing unemployment rates and skyrocketing inflation amidst the ongoing economic crisis.