Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 29th March. International Labour Organization in its new assessments reports on Tuesday called for urgent support to prevent poverty in Turkiye and Syria and warned an increase in child labour and hand-to-mouth jobs, after the devastating earthquakes in the region.
The preliminary findings showed in the new ILO assessments of the disaster’s impact on the labor market said hundreds of thousands of workers in both countries have lost their livelihoods because of the earthquakes.
ILO Director-General Gilbert Houngbo said “Employment promotion is central to a successful and inclusive response to this disaster.”
“People can only begin to rebuild their lives if they have rebuilt their livelihoods. We owe it to those who have lost so much in the earthquake to ensure that the principles of social justice and decent work are firmly embedded in the recovery and reconstruction process.”
The earthquakes left over 658,000 workers unable to earn their living, and more than 150,000 workplaces unusable, initial findings suggest.
In the face of steep income and job losses, ILO warned about increasing risks to occupational safety and health, as well as child labour.
ILO reported affected workers face average income losses of more than $230 per month each, for as long as the disruption continues. Overall, the crisis is likely to have reduced take-home pay by around $150 million per month in the affected areas.
It stressed that lost work hours have rippled across the affected area. Estimates show that in Malatya, 58.8 per cent of work hours are estimated to have been lost, with comparable figures of 48.1 per cent in Adıyaman and 45.2 per cent in Hatay.
The affected provinces in Türkiye are home to more than four million workers, most employed in agriculture, manufacturing, trade, or other “low-value-added” services, ILO reported.
ILO estimated that 170,000 workers have lost their jobs as a result of the earthquakes. This has directly affected around 154,000 households and more than 725,000 people.
Over 35,000 micro small and medium-sized enterprises have also been affected. This temporary un employment has led to total labor income losses equivalent to at least $5.7 million a month.
Aleppo, Hama, Idleb, Lattakia and Tartous were badly affected home to 42.4 per cent of the country’s total population which includes 7.1 million people of working age of 16 and up, 22.8 per cent of whom are women.
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