Turkey to Temporarily Ban Layoffs, Offers Help Seen as Pittance
Turkey to Temporarily Ban Layoffs With Virus Cases Near 40,000
(Bloomberg) -- Turkey is preparing to take new steps to alleviate the damage to its labor market from restrictions imposed during the coronavirus outbreak, offering relief to workers that was immediately criticized as insufficient.
The government will ban layoffs for three months and provide a daily stipend of almost 40 liras ($5.8) to people who aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits and lost their jobs after March 15, NTV reported Wednesday, citing a draft law proposal by the ruling AK Party. The proposal grants President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the right to extend the ban by up to six months, NTV said.
Keeping unemployment in check is among the urgent challenges facing an economy Morgan Stanley says is the most heavily affected by the pandemic across countries in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The non-farm jobless rate was 15.8% in the three months to January, according to the latest official data.
The package of support soon came under withering attack. Arzu Cerkezoglu, head of the labor confederation DISK, described it as a “freakish unpaid-leave policy.”
Commenting on Twitter, Cerkezoglu said the monthly payment to workers who will be sent on unpaid leave under the proposal would amount to 1,177 liras, almost a quarter of what they could get under the government’s short-term employment allowance program. “Workers should be paid at least the minimum wage,” she said.
Turkey reported 87 new coronavirus fatalities Wednesday, bringing the death toll from the outbreak to 812, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
The number of confirmed cases rose 12.1% from Tuesday to 38,226. Turkey screened 24,900 people over the past 24 hours with 4,117 testing positive for the virus, the minister said.
Below are highlights of data compiled by Bloomberg on the outbreak in Turkey:
- Total cases rose 12.1% on Wednesday, compared to an all-time low of 11.6% on Monday
- The percentage of people who tested positive during screening was 16.5% on Wednesday
- The number of total tests administered during the first 30 days of the outbreak reached 247,768. The daily number will reach 30,000 from next week, Koca said
Policy makers have gradually increased restrictions on people’s mobility since the first case was confirmed March 10. The government has announced a lockdown for young and elderly people, suspended air transportation and limited movement in and out of more than 30 cities, including Istanbul and the capital, Ankara.
Erdogan unveiled a 100-billion-lira package to mitigate the economic fallout, including cheaper credit and tax deferrals for businesses. Morgan Stanley now sees Turkey’s gross domestic product contracting 3.6% this year, followed by a gain of 5% in 2021.
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