It's called the 'Unemployment Fund' but it works for employers... CHP takes action

The Unemployment Insurance Fund, established to provide security for those who become unemployed, has begun to support employers more than the unemployed in practice. CHP Manisa Deputy and member of the Planning and Budget Committee, Ahmet Vehbi Bakırlıoğlu, reacted sharply to the structure of the fund and submitted a comprehensive legislative proposal to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Bakırlıoğlu said, "The fund contradicts its own name. It has turned into a structure that works for the employer, not the unemployed. Millions of citizens who have lost their jobs for years can barely benefit from this fund at all."

71 BILLION FOR BOSSES, 45 BILLION FOR THE UNEMPLOYED

As of 2025, the size of the fund has reached 428 billion TL, while its interest income alone in the first four months of the year was 43.1 billion TL. However, there is a striking inequality in distribution:

• While 71 billion TL was transferred to employers under various incentives and support programs throughout 2024,
  

• The total payment made to the unemployed was only 45.7 billion TL.
  

Furthermore, according to April 2025 data, only 469 thousand people were able to receive unemployment benefits. This figure corresponds to only 15 percent of the total number of unemployed people even as announced by TÜİK. Throughout 2024, only 47 out of every 100 people who applied for unemployment benefits were able to receive payment.

CHP TAKES ACTION

The legislative proposal submitted by the CHP to Parliament aims to ease the conditions for benefiting from unemployment benefits and to increase the salary replacement rate. The CHP's legislative proposal requests that the requirement of paying premiums for 600 days in the last 3 years be replaced by a 360-day requirement, and that unemployment benefits be set at 60 percent of the minimum wage instead of 40 percent. 

CHP's Bakırlıoğlu emphasized that the fund should return to its true purpose and said: 

"Today, millions of our citizens who become unemployed cannot benefit from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. This resource, which is approaching 500 billion TL in total, flows to bosses as incentives. Unemployment benefits must be accessible, and payments must be increased to a level that allows for a humane standard of living."

News Source: 12punto