Turkey's unemployment rate increased to 13.8 percent in January compared to 13.7 percent in November, the country’s statistical authority said on Friday, amid fears of a further rise in joblessness due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The non-agricultural unemployment rate posted a 1.1 percentage point drop to reach 15.7 percent from 15.8 percent in November, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
Official figures on how the coronavirus pandemic has hit the workforce since March are not set to become available from TurkState until June and July.
But a committee from The Republican People's Party, Turkey’s biggest opposition bloc in parliament, has warned that 11 million people could become unemployed because of the pandemic.
The Turkish government plans to propose a draft-law for approval in parliament on temporarily banning the sacking of employees for three and up to six months.
The bill is expected to be sent to parliament early next week to stop the number of unemployed, which stands at around 4.4 million people, from growing.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) predicted that 25 million jobs in the world were threatened by the new coronavirus. Before the disease spread worldwide, global unemployment already stood at around 190 million.
Last month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would postpone debt payments and reduce tax burdens in various sectors under a 100 billion lira ($15.4 billion) package to support the economy and lessen the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, he urged employers to avoid firing their workers.
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