Osman Şenkul
The Council of Europe and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement approximately two weeks ago (25 February) on a regulation aimed at expanding the scope of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to provide greater support to workers facing unemployment. Following the agreement, the EGF issued the following statement:
“The agreement signed today sends a clear message of European solidarity. In a rapidly changing global economy, workers should not face uncertainty alone. By expanding the scope of the EGF, we are ensuring that support reaches people earlier and offering them a real opportunity to retrain, adapt and remain active in the labour market.”
The statement also emphasised that the new rules will remain in force until the end of 2027, when the current EGF programme expires. Marinos Moushouttas, Minister of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Cyprus, said, “The purpose of the EGF is to show solidarity with workers and the self-employed who have lost their jobs due to company restructuring and to help them find new employment.”
Under the agreement, support measures eligible for EGF funding include active labour market policy measures aimed at equipping workers with the skills necessary to move to a different job or find employment, including training, skills certification, job search assistance or career counselling.
The statement emphasised that such support is specifically intended for those who have been made redundant as a result of restructuring, noting:
“However, redundancies due to restructuring generally occur in waves, meaning that those at risk of redundancy also need access to training support and that it would be beneficial for them to receive this support at an earlier stage, before they are made redundant.”
Accordingly, under the revised regulation, employees at risk of losing their jobs as a result of company restructuring, including suppliers and producers of the affected business, will be able to access support under the EGF to reduce the rate of redundancies and help employees transition to new roles.
According to the EGF, the agreement between the Council of Europe and the European Parliament will also clarify the scope of the revised regulation, enabling workers at risk of redundancy to access support at an earlier stage of the process. The agreed text will also provide sufficient safeguards, such as the possibility for Member States to carry out preliminary checks on companies’ financial and administrative capacity. Member States will also have the possibility to allocate pre-financing to companies in instalments.
The European Commission first took these steps on 1 April 2025 by amending Regulation (EU) 2021/691 (European Globalisation Adjustment Fund Regulation for Displaced Workers) to provide support to workers at risk of losing their jobs in ‘businesses undergoing restructuring’. The Commission first announced its intention to amend the EGF Regulation in the context of economic disruptions and geopolitical challenges to support industrial sectors such as automotive and steel in the Commission’s Industrial Action Plan for the European Automotive Sector, published on 5 March 2025.
The revision was presented alongside a proposal to amend the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the main instrument used by the EU to invest in people and support the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. On 15 July 2025, the Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the revision of the ESF+ as part of the ongoing mid-term review of the EU’s cohesion policy.
The developments that prompted the European Council and the European Parliament to take action in this regard, as frequently emphasised in the decision, are said to be the job losses occurring in ‘businesses undergoing restructuring’. It is known that job losses in many sectors have recently been caused by artificial intelligence. In short, in addition to the measures taken by all governments across the European Union, the European Parliament and the European Commission, the EU’s highest bodies, have also come together to take steps to minimise the negative effects of all job losses caused by these reasons on individuals.
Looking at Europe from this perspective, we can see that these developments are underpinned by social policies that feature prominently in all EU countries and, more broadly, in the founding treaties of the EU.
In order to maintain profitable production, businesses are significantly reducing employment, partly due to global developments, while social policies are stepping in to take the necessary steps to offset all the damage caused, including job security.
Moreover, these steps are being taken immediately after the announcement that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the 21 members of the Eurozone has fallen to 6.1 per cent, its lowest level in recent history. According to Eurostat, this rate is below the 6.2 per cent recorded in December 2025 and the 6.3 per cent recorded a year earlier.
However, looking at Europe from here, we are faced with a completely different picture. According to the results of the Labour Force Survey announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 points compared to the previous month to 8.1 per cent in January 2026. The number of unemployed rose by 73,000 to 2,819,000. The number of employed persons fell by 516,000 to 31,953,000 in January. The employment rate was recorded at 47.9 per cent, a decline of 0.8 percentage points.
The underemployment rate, which includes potential labour force and unemployed individuals, increased by 0.9 percentage points in January to reach 29.9 per cent. The combined rate of time-related underemployment and unemployment was calculated at 19.2 per cent, while the combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force was 20.2 per cent. In short, this picture of the labour market showed a weakening in employment and participation in the first month of the year.
As compared with the inflation data of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) and the Inflation Research Group (ENAG), the Revolutionary Workers’ Unions Confederation Research Department (DİSK-AR), which compared its unemployment data, emphasised that the gap in the labour market was widening, noting that the number of broadly defined unemployed was almost four times the number of narrowly defined unemployed:
“The number of time-related underemployed persons, who work less than 40 hours per week and want to work more if they have the opportunity, increased by 464,000 in the last year, rising from 3.4 million to 3.9 million. 3.9 million people work less than 40 hours per week and want to work more. The increase in underemployment due to time constraints is a result of livelihood difficulties. The potential labour force increased by 689,000 people over the past year, rising from 4.9 million to 5.3 million. In other words, as of January 2026, 5.3 million people in Turkey cannot find work despite wanting to work.”
According to the report, the number of broadly defined unemployed persons in Turkey reached 11 million 946 thousand as of January 2026, with the broadly defined unemployment rate rising to 29.9 per cent.
When we look at these developments in unemployment in Turkey, highlighting developments related to workplaces, we see that the picture that emerges is quite different from that in Europe.
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) shared statistics on companies established and closed in 2025 with the public. According to the report, while there was an increase in the number of companies established in December 2025 compared to the previous month, the record 193.6 per cent increase in the number of companies that closed was striking. Similarly, there was a significant increase of 284.9 per cent in the number of cooperatives that closed and 103.4 per cent in the number of sole proprietorships that closed.
The trade sector stood out in the sectoral distribution of companies and cooperatives that ceased operations in December. Records show that 2,508 of the closed companies were in the wholesale and retail trade and motor vehicle repair sectors. In addition, 1,087 companies in the manufacturing sector and 689 companies in the construction sector closed their doors. A similar trend was observed among sole proprietorships, with the highest number of closures occurring in the trade sector. An analysis of the 166 cooperatives established during the same period revealed that the majority were housing construction cooperatives. Of the cooperatives established, 114 were registered as housing construction cooperatives, 26 as business cooperatives, and 9 as motor vehicle cooperatives.
DİSK-AR’s ‘Wage Loss Monitoring Report’ published on 5 March emphasised that the total cost of inflation and taxes on workers’ wages over two months was ‘at least 268 billion 714 lira’ and provided the following details:
- High inflation and unfair taxes and deductions continue to erode workers’ wages.
- In the second month of the year, the cumulative total cost of inflation alone on insured workers’ wages was 113.4 billion TL.
- The total cost of income and stamp taxes was 155.3 billion TL.
- The cumulative total inflation and tax loss for workers increased by 53.7 per cent compared to the first two months of 2025.
- Workers spent approximately 8 days of February 2026 working to pay taxes, deductions and inflation.
- The average worker’s wage loss due to taxes and inflation (excluding deductions) amounted to 8,743 TL.
- The minimum wage lost 2,232 TL in the second month of the year.
- In February 2026, 25.9 per cent of wages 1.5 times the minimum wage, 28 per cent of wages twice the minimum wage, 29.2 per cent of wages 2.5 times the minimum wage, and 30 per cent of wages three times the minimum wage were eroded by taxes, deductions, and inflation.
As can be seen, even the smallest added data worsens the picture in Turkey as much as possible; it makes it unbearable. Therefore, while 86 million people turn their backs on all this and cling to life with hope, looking at the beautiful view on the other side, one cannot help but feel sad for the 450.4 million people on this side whose hearts are darkened when they look across.