Experts warn: if “urgent and specific” support is not provided, there is a danger of increasing poverty, informal employment and child exploitation. In Turkey, the earthquake left 658,000 workers without a livelihood and damaged 150,000 workplaces, now unusable. In neighboring Syria, 725,000 people suffered damage from the quake; about 23% of the unemployed are women.
Damascus () – The impact of the earthquake on February 6 in Turkey is devastating. In addition to the toll in human lives – more than 57,000 victims – the earthquake has brought hundreds of thousands of companies and workers to their knees, who now find themselves jobless and with no prospect of recovery. The situation requires “urgent and specific” support; Otherwise, “it is likely that poverty will increase, the [empleo] undeclared and child labor”. The warning comes from the experts of the International Labor Organization (ILO) after a study that establishes a correlation between the earthquake and the impact on the labor market.
Gilbert F. Houngbo, director general of the UN agency dealing with rights and labor, stresses that “promoting employment is crucial to responding to the catastrophe in an effective and comprehensive manner.” At the same time, they explain, “people can only start to rebuild their lives if they have rebuilt their livelihoods. These people have lost a lot in the earthquake and we must ensure that the principles of social justice and decent work are incorporated into the recovery process.” and reconstruction”.
Early estimates from Turkey suggest that more than 658,000 workers have been left without a livelihood and that more than 150,000 workplaces have suffered devastating damage, rendering them unusable. The ILO warns that as long as this situation continues, these workers will lose income of almost 230 euros per month. In addition, it is estimated that the crisis has also reduced income from home work, with a decrease of 150 million euros per month in the affected areas.
More than four million workers live in the affected Turkish provinces, the vast majority of whom are engaged in agriculture, manufacturing, commerce or other services. It is estimated that in Malatya more than 58.8% of working hours have been lost; in Adıyaman, 48.1%, and in Hatay, just over 45.2%. In addition to job losses, the ILO assessment on Turkey warns of increased risks to health and safety at work, and the danger of misunderstanding child exploitation.
In Syria, where 12 years of civil war have had serious repercussions on the economy and the labor market, a first estimate indicates that almost 170,000 workers would have lost their jobs because of the earthquake. Around 154,000, the ILO experts continue, are from families directly affected, which adds up to more than 725,000 people; 35,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are added to them. A “temporary” unemployment that has meant a total loss of labor income of almost 5.7 million euros per month. In the five most affected Syrian provinces – Aleppo, Hama, Idlib, Lattakia and Tartous – live around 42.4% of the country’s total population, a figure that includes some 7.1 million people of working age (over the age of 16), of which 2.7 million had a job (formal or informal). 22.8% of the unemployed are women.
The ILO study proposes to implement measures, in cooperation with local governments in Syria and Turkey, to support the labor market and revitalize businesses. These include emergency programs for companies to guarantee work and continuity of production and specific initiatives to provide temporary employment for farmers. In addition, efforts are being made to protect children and refugees from falling into slave labor and to support reconstruction activities. Finally, in Syria there are grants to social workers to help revitalize businesses and support workers, as well as improve safety and health practices in the workplace.
