SYRIANS IN THE TURKISH LABOUR MARKET Data from TURKSTAT Household Labour Force Survey (HHLFS) 2017.
Who participates in the Turkish labour market?
Syrian labour force in Turkey Syrian labour force in Turkey
3% Unemployed 930,000 women Out of 2 million Syrians at working age, were part of the labour force. 930,000 10% Unemployed 813,000 were employed (including 130,000 self-employed). This represents 2.8 men per cent of the employed population in Turkey. The employment rate of Syrians is approximately 40%. 12% Employed women More than 97% of Syrian workers are estimated to work informally (according to the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social 75% Employed 97% Services 20,967 work permits were issued to Syrians in 2017). men A very small share are formally employed women.
Characteristics of the Syrian labour force in comparison
Unemployment 13.23 Labour force 79.4 NEET 82.8 rate, 15+ participation (not in 72.5 employment, population rate education or (in percentage) training) (in percentage) 10.91 rate, 15-24 years old (in percentage) 33.9 30.7
13.4 19.6 12.6
Syrian Turkish Syrian Syrian Turkish Turkish Syrian Syrian Turkish Turkish men women men women men women men women
Where do they work? What about their working conditions? Syrians by sector, province and enterprise size Working time per week
Syrians work in sectors which traditionally have high More than 75% of Syrians work more than 45 hours informality rates. per week (legal weekly working time in Turkey). Syrian workers are concentrated in a few provinces (Istanbul, Adana, Bursa, Gaziantep, Hatay, Konya and Izmir). In these provinces, they account for 84% of all working Syrians. 0-45 46-59 60-69 70-99 HOURS HOURS HOURS HOURS Syrians are more likely than informally employed Turkish workers to work in companies with 10 or more employees. Syrian Turkish Syrian Turkish Syrian Turkish Syrian Turkish 24.1% 46.5% 42.0% 33.4% 24.1% 11.6% 9.8% 8.5% Sectors (in percentage) 0
10
20
30
40
50 31.1% 17.7 % 17.1 % 13.2% 13.1% 7.8 % Garment Trade and Other Construction Other Agriculture hospitality manufacturing Wages
Provinces (percentage of Syrian workers On average Syrians earn less than the minimum wage. by sub-province*) The average monthly wage of Syrian men was 1,337 TL, and *Sub-provinces represent NUTS-2 classifications used by TURKSTAT. 1,083 TL for Syrian women in 2017. TL
46% 9% 9% 7% TL Istanbul Adana Bursa Gaziantep Minimum Wage, 2017 (1.404 TL) TL TL TL TL 5% 4% 3% 3% TL TL TL Hatay Konya Şanlıurfa Izmir TL TL TL TL
Syrian men Syrian women Turkish men Turkish women 14% Rest of Turkey
Company size (in percentage) Impact of informality
Less than If all informally employed Syrians 10 Employees were formalized (excluding self-em- 56.2% %78.5 Informal ployed workers), SSI would gain Syrian Turkish <10 workers workers 7 billion TL per year.
This amount was calculated considering the social security 10 or more premiums to be collected from approx- Employees %21.5 43.8% Informal imately 660,000 Syrian employees who Syrian Turkish >10 workers workers would be working formally.