At least 828,000 people have lost their job or have no way of accessing it in Türkiye and in Syria due to the earthquakes that affected both countries last February, as assessed today by the International Labor Organization (ILO).
In the case of Turkey, the earthquakes have left 658,000 people unable to continue working, confirmed the director of the ILO’s priority action programme, Maurizio Bussi.
In the ten Turkish regions hit by the earthquakes live more than four million workers employed in various sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing or commerce.
In total, the ILO estimates that 150,000 jobs have been left unused and that each worker could lose an average of 230 dollars a month (212.3 euros at current exchange rates), which together would mean a loss of 150 million dollars for the entire Turkey (138.4 million euros).
In addition, Bussi warned at a press conference that this situation puts safety and health at work at risk, and could lead to an increase in cases of child labor.
Syria: New blow for a market weakened by the war
The ILO recognizes that the situation of workers is even more complicated in Syria, immersed for twelve years in a civil war that had already hit the country’s economy and its labor market “enormously”.
According to the organization’s assessments, 725,000 people have been directly or indirectly affected by the impact of the earthquakes on the battered Syrian labor ecosystem, of which 170,000 are unable to work.
Bussi mentioned that the earthquakes have also affected 35,000 small and medium-sized companies in the north of the country.
According to the ILO, the earthquakes have triggered total losses of labor income equivalent to 5.7 million dollars (4.6 million euros) per month for the whole of Syria.
Bussi said that the organization is now working “in close collaboration with the Turkish national authorities to support the recovery of the labor market and companies” in the country.
In Syria, the ILO is carrying out intensive work in Aleppo (one of the cities most affected by the earthquakes) and increasing its support for the workers and companies most affected.
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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