Turkey confronts soaring unemployment and record work deaths in June

According to IŞKUR data, Turkey’s job‑seeker pool has risen to nearly 2.5 million, with retirees, university graduates and textile workers all struggling to find employment. Over the past three years the textile and ready‑made clothing sector lost 377 000 jobs, saw about 10 000 firms close, export shares fall below 3 %, a $10 billion investment pipeline stall, and production shift to Egypt and China.

The June work‑fatality report released by the Occupational Health and Safety Parliament shows 228 workers died in the month, 218 men and 10 women, including six child labourers and 14 migrant workers. The highest casualties occurred in agriculture/forestry and construction (54 deaths each), followed by transport (24), metal (19) and municipal services (14). Leading causes were crushing (24 %), falls from height (15 %) and traffic accidents (15 %). Istanbul recorded the most deaths (26), with Bursa (11), Kütahya and Şanlıurfa (9 each) and Antalya and Samsun (7 each) trailing.