Turkey ranks first among European countries in informal employment

While many low-income earners are wondering about the rate of the minimum wage increase for the new year, millions of employees in Turkey are working informally without social security. According to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute, as of the third quarter of 2023, 8.7 million people were employed without being registered with any social security institution. Informal employment increased by 309 thousand compared to the second quarter of the year and by 1.1 million compared to the first quarter. Looking at the Social Security Institution data, it is seen that informal employment in Turkey is at the level of 31.9 percent this year. The sector with the highest informal employment is the agricultural sector. 67.5 percent of employment in agriculture, 32.9 percent in the service sector, and 19.6 percent in industry are employed informally. According to the “Informality and Globalization” report published this year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), approximately 60 percent of the global workforce works informally.

2 BILLION PEOPLE ARE EMPLOYED INFORMALLY

In other words, approximately 2 billion people are employed informally. According to the OECD's findings, the regions with the highest informal employment were Africa and Asia. It is stated that in these regions, in many countries including India, informal employment is 90 percent or higher. While the informal employment rate in low-income countries is 89 percent, it was determined to be 15 percent in high-income countries.

We are in first place in Europe

Turkey ranks first among European countries in informal employment. As of 2019, 11.1 percent of all employment in Europe was informal. The highest informal employment rates were seen in Romania with 21.7 percent, Lithuania with 20.8 percent, and Bulgaria with 19.3 percent. The lowest rates are found in Germany, Europe's largest economy, with 3.9 percent, the Netherlands with 4.8 percent, and Austria with 5.1 percent.

News Source: 12punto