Turkey's bleeding wound unemployment picture came to light with the correct announcement of the figures for the first time.
The unemployment figures, which caused controversy due to the data that TURKSTAT did not explain correctly, and which are estimated to be much higher than the announced figures, the real figure came out with the announcement of the "idle labor force" figures.
The broadly defined unemployment rate, which was 19.6 percent in January 2019, rose to 29.1 percent in January 2021. Former Director of the United Nations Development Program, Economist Bartu Soral, made important statements to our newspaper and explained unemployment figures and solutions to unemployment.
There is a huge confusion about unemployment in Turkey. What would you say about our country's unemployment report?
Unemployment doesn't just mean unemployed people. A person who cannot participate in production, who cannot reach the goals and dreams he has set in life, is a person whose psychology is disrupted. It is a desperate, unhappy person who thinks that life has lost its meaning. Let's not see unemployment as just lack of money. When rich family children with money cannot participate in production, they experience various psychological problems, they can come to the point of deviant and addiction. For this reason, the issue we call unemployment is that people who are physically and mentally ready to work stay away from the workforce, are idle, their psychology is broken, they are distanced from the society, and they injure their family. It is really an issue that everyone should discuss from morning to night and seek solutions.
TURKSTAT figures are always a matter of debate. In January, idle workforce was announced for the first time. What is your comment on this?
I do not know why it has not been announced until today, but it was correct. Even if you do not explain it, it does not change the fact that there is a significant unemployment problem in Turkey. Actually, we have a completely different issue that is not mentioned with the word unemployment; labor force participation rate. What percentage of the physically and mentally ready to work population in a country has participated in the workforce, that is, in production, it is a data that examines it. In Turkey, this rate is 50 percent. In other words, in our population, half of the population ready to work is employed, half of it is idle, meaning unused resource. 31 million people, half of whom we call idle. Most of them aren't even looking for a job, they don't have the professional skills anyway. In this data, the world average is 61 percent. Participation in the labor force in producing countries is even higher, around 65 percent. This shows us the importance of production.
"TURKEY SHOULD GIVE UP FROM THE EU AND MAKE ITS OWN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM"
With the announcement of the idle workforce, the percentage of unemployment doubled. What is the status and comment of the new announcement?
Number of people who look for a job and then give up, are ready to work, and have professional skills, which is called idle unemployment announced by TURKSTAT. This figure is currently 29 percent, that is, more than 8 million citizens of ours are unemployed. It's too loud. Of course, there is also a pandemic event in the world. Huge employment losses were experienced everywhere. By the way, one of the issues we need to pay attention to is the unemployment rates in the EU. Except for a manufacturing giant like Germany, unemployment rates are high in countries such as France, Italy and Spain. In other words, Turkey now has to leave the EU's dreams of getting rich and take the cap to the EU, and seriously consider and implement its own development program and production planning.
THE SYSTEM FIRST NEEDS ITSELF, THEN EXPOSED AT INTEREST
The main solution to solve the unemployment problem is, of course, employment. Production and development plans are also very important for employment. What would you say about this? What should Turkey do for the unemployment problem?
Look, the world moved to the neo-liberal system that created wealth through this globalization and financial markets in the 1980s. He got into this business very enthusiastically in Turkey. 1980 24 January decisions, 1989, the amendment to the law numbered 32 and the latest 2001, IMF signed "Transition to a Strong Economy Program" presented by Kemal Derviş, we are deeply rooted in this system. This system is leech. Its boss is the transatlantic capital class. It feeds on interest. First he takes his hand, then his arm. It seizes public assets with privatizations. It does not want the state to be controlled or even regulated, let alone being a producer in the economy. This is a system based on the absolute domination of international banks and companies. The system is based on needing you first and then exploiting you with interest.
"THE WAY TO BREAK THE SYSTEM IS TO PRODUCE MORE"
The way to break this is to produce more, to break the foreign exchange need arising from the foreign trade deficit. As long as this need cannot be met, you gain international financing with every move made. Turkey has to switch to a new economic model, namely the planned development model. Public markets should be controlled and regulated. It should bring Turkey a five-year investment plan in industry and agriculture. The private sector and the public should work together on this issue. While preparing incentives for private investments, the public should invest in some areas. Turkey should rapidly implement industrial and agricultural investments that produce not dead infrastructure investments. You cannot beat unemployment in any other way.