Labour Market Impact of Syrians and their Employability
30 December 2015
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"Labour Market Impact of Syrians in Turkey and their Employability" event hosted by ILO shared the preliminary findings of four new ILO field surveys, which were discussed with participants after presentations.
In his keynote address, the Director of the ILO Office in Turkey, Numan Özcan stated that he expects that the reports will support the planning of services for both the Syrians under the temporary protection and the local communities affected. Özcan emphasized that the findings of the studies show that Syrians already actively take place in the working life; and added that there’s need for comprehensive policies and measures to minimize the negative impacts of this situation on the local and national levels, and even turn this into an opportunity to fill the gaps in the labour market.
In her opening speech, Director General for Labour of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Nurcan Önder stated that the countries affected by migration are either transition or target destination countries and that Turkey is no longer a transition country but has become a target destination country. Önder said that they have prepared a draft law which defines the conditions for the employment of foreigners in Turkey and that their priorities in the draft law are to secure the protection of employment and assure labor peace. Since the start of problems in Syria in 2011, about 6 thousand Syrians who have legally entered the country, were issued work permits and that the majority of them are company partners opening new workplaces in the manufacturing and trade sectors, she added. Önder also called for projects that promote employment.
The field studies that are conducted as part of a comprehensive ILO strategy for the Syrians under temporary protection in Turkey aim to improve knowledge-base and produce reliable data on the impact of the Syrian refugees on the Turkish labour market with a view to contribute to the development of a comprehensive national policy.
Some of the findings of the four field studies conducted by the ILO are as follows:
1. Results of field study in Şanlıurfa on employers’ and workers’ view on employment of Syrians:
- 27% of the businesses surveyed employ Syrians; and this corresponds to 3.2% of their total employment.
- 60% employers mention that they can employ Syrians if there is a need, while 64% says they can employ if there is a State support. 32% says they would never employ Syrians.
- While the employers have a positive view for employing the Syrians, language problems is cited as the biggest obstacle (50%), followed by social adaptation (32%) and work permits (24%).
- The workers in the surveyed enterprises have more negative views on the employment of Syrians as they think that this causes communication and adaptation problems in the workplace and reduces productivity.
2. Results of field study on Syrian children working on streets in Ankara
- Syrian children’s school enrollment rate is closely linked to the levels of their parents’ education and welfare.
- Parents’ informal work and low wages is an important factor for Syrian children to work on the streets.
- Syrian children face language problems, which make it difficult for them to make use of social facilities and opportunities offered.
3. Results of needs analysis of institutional capacity at central and local level
- More than 50% of the population in Kilis, 25% of Sanliurfa and 22.5% of Gaziantep is made of Syrian population and these cities have exceeded their carrying capacities due to urban infrastructures’ inadequacies particularly in the areas of municipality services, health, and education and social services. Access to social services both by the host communities and the Syrians are becoming increasingly problematic.
- The increased number of refugees in Turkey necessitates development of medium and long-term programs that help planning and the coordination of the services of public institutions and development of institutional capacity.
4. Priorities in vocational, technical and skills training at Gaziantep Nizip Temporary Sheltering Centre; local level supply and demand assessment
- Approximately 20% of the Syrians living in the sheltering centres in Gaziantep are working temporarily or permanently at service, industry and agricultural enterprises within the province.
- Adaptation of these individuals into the labour market by equipping them with relevant vocational knowledge and skills is of vital importance. In this regard, within the framework of this study, a detailed field research has been conducted to develop a vocational education model towards Syrians living in sheltering centers and six fields of profession have been identified for trainees likely to be employed by taking needs of labour market and skills of Syrians into consideration.
- Short-term vocational courses are suggested in following fields of profession; shoe-making, welding (3rd degree), Gaziantep copper hand-craftsmanship, weaving readymade garment machine operation, service personnel assistantship and web designing.
ILO’s work strategy related with the Syrians in Turkey consists of five components:
- To facilitate that the national policy development efforts take place on the ground of tripartite agreements;
- To perform assessments, research and impact assessments at local and national levels to improve the knowledge-base;
- To support the strengthening of institutional and technical capacity to overcome the problems in the labor market;
- To conduct skills development, vocational trainings and local economic development activities in collaboration with national stakeholders to increase the employability of the Syrians and local communities.
- To create awareness about the regulatory frameworks, the challenges and opportunities in the labor market.