ATO President: The expectations of job seekers do not match the realities of the country

Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) board chairman Gürsel Baran stated that there is a shortage of skilled labor to be employed in all sectors and that the shortage of intermediate staff has become a chronic problem.

In his written statement, Baran stated that there has been a rapid change across the world with the advancement of technology and this process has been accelerated by the epidemic. Noting that people are concerned that they will be left out of business life with mechanization in this process, Baran said:

IT NEGATIVELY AFFECTS OUR PRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL

“While we were concerned that people would become unemployed because robots would do business, we were unable to find skilled or even unskilled labor. When we meet as employers, the first topic we talk about is not finding workers to hire. Not being able to find people to work in the cadres called intermediate cadres negatively affects all the productive and service potential of our country”.

Underlining that there is a lack of skilled labor to be employed in all sectors, from construction to healthcare, from textiles to furniture, from restaurants to hotels, and that the shortage of middle staff has become a chronic problem, he said, “The employer invests millions of lira, sets up a business, but is desperate to find people to work in that business. Intermediate staff has become the main problem for companies.

‘PUBLIC WAGE POLICY IS AFFECTING BADLY’

Stating that with the privatization efforts in Turkey, the public has withdrawn from areas where the real sector can operate, Baran argued that it is not possible to solve the problem of finding workers in the real sector without destroying the perception that the public is a repository of employment.

Arguing that one of the reasons why the real sector cannot find employees is the wage policy implemented by the public, Baran continued as follows:

“The salaries of our private sector, which operates with very low rates of return, lag behind in some positions in the public sector. Unfortunately, the high level of expectations of job seekers does not correspond to the realities of our country”.

REFUGEE EMPLOYMENT MAY INCREASE

Baran noted that vocational and technical education must be popularized and stressed the importance of learning culture.

Recalling that the issue of asylum seekers was discussed, Baran warned that the rate of asylum seekers working in some sectors is high and the employment of asylum seekers may increase if the problem of not finding staff is not resolved. (AA)