As many as 1.086 million people in Turkey who lost their jobs applied to Turkish Employment Organization (İŞKUR) in 2015 in order to receive unemployment benefits, according to data revealed by Labor Minister Süleyman Soylu.
Answering a parliamentary motion submitted by Republican People’s Party (CHP) Zonguldak deputy Ünal Demirtaş on the issue of the number of people receiving unemployment benefits in Turkey over the years, Soylu said the number of people seeking to receive unemployment benefits increased tenfold over the past 14 years and twice over the past five years.
He said a total of 1.086 million people wanted to get unemployment benefits in 2015 but only 589,000 of those people were able to receive it.
In order to be granted unemployment benefits, employees who lost their jobs, are required to have worked at least for 600 days in the previous three years, they are required to have worked continuously for at least 120 days before leaving their job and they should not have left their job of their own free will and due to gross misconduct.
A person can be granted unemployment benefits only for once.
Minister Soylu also said more than TL100 billion has accumulated in the Unemployment Fund as of 2016 since it was introduced in 2002.