Unemployment across the globe is rising at an alarming pace. The slowdown in major economies is driving companies to restructure their operations, which is giving rise to lay-offs of a huge number of employees in most of the enterprises.
Turkey is no exception. The latest unemployment figures released by the government are a pointer to the fact that joblessness in the country is growing. In the last quarter of 2008, unemployment grew to 12.3 percent from 10.1 percent in the same period of 2007.
The biggest sectors that are responsible for this rise in unemployment rates are textiles, garments and automobiles sectors. The biggest overseas market for Turkish textile exports and which accounts for nearly 79 percent of all sectoral exports, EU is under the throes of a deep recession.
The slowdown of orders from its biggest importer bloc is leading to mass lay-offs in the textile and garment sector. The consumer confidence in Turkey is also not so high, to provide a cushion against the falling export figures.
Experts aver that, the coming months could see unemployment figures rising to more than 15 percent if the recessionary trends persist for a few more months, which it is expected to, at least till end of 2009, leading to more concerns within the government.
The government on its part is trying to negotiate a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help it cruise through these difficult times. The Central Bank on its part has also reduced lending rates to a historic low of 13 percent to encourage demand.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India