ISO president’s reaction to foreign workers: puts demographic structure in trouble

While the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) today announced the 2022 results of the ‘Turkey’s 500 Largest Industrial Companies (ISO 500)’ research, ICI President Erdal Bahçıvan made a notable statement about the ‘ foreign workers’.

Bahçıvan, who was asked his opinion on the statements of some industrialists that “if the refugees leave, we will not be able to find employees to employ them, there will be a collapse in the industry,” said: “We, as ISO, are clear that “Turkey will not be able to initiate a demographic expansion that affects and threatens its future demographic and sociological structure to create competitive power only from labor.” “We are against it,” he said.

Bahçıvan stated that there is no problem with foreign workers who will add quality, intelligence and value to the Turkish industry, but it does not seem right to them that foreigners support the economy only with their work-oriented dimension, without bringing qualifications, and evaluated: ” This will take us on an endless journey.”

“There is a risk that this path will lead Turkey into an endless corridor,” Bahçıvan said, stressing that the creation of a competitive power based solely on work will be a burden for future generations and no one can take responsibility for it.

96 PERCENT INCREASE IN TOTAL PROFIT

Total net sales based on production in ISO 500 increased by 119 percent annually, reaching 4 trillion 485 billion TL. The actual increase in net sales from net production was 33.3 percent according to the CPI and 10.8 percent according to the PPI.

The share of the top 50 companies in production-based net sales in ISO 500 was 52 percent, and the share of the top 100 companies was 65 percent.

The share of ISO 500 in Turkey’s total industrial exports was around 40 percent.

ISO 500’s total operating profit increased 96 percent year-on-year to 671 billion Turkish lira. The operating profitability rate decreased from 14.8 percent to 12.8 percent.

ISO 500’s total debt increased by 67 percent to 2.5 trillion Turkish lira.