Thirty Percent of Unemployment Insurance Beneficiaries Live in Istanbul The number of unemployment insurance recipients reached 28,000 by June 2012.

ANKARA – The number of people eligible receiving unemployment insurance from İŞKUR increased to 28,000 as of June 2012. Thirty percent of eligible beneficiaries live in Istanbul.

The eleventh issue of the TEPAV Employment Monitoring Bulletin reports that the number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries increased by 44 percent from 27,000 in December 2011 to 39,000 in January 2012. The number of beneficiaries started decreasing after January, to 26,000 in February to 24,000 in May. Though the rate reached to 28,000 by June, the upwards movement was slow, the report says. In Turkey, there were a large number of eligibility criteria for unemployment insurance, the report emphasized.

Between June 2011 and 2012, the number of beneficiaries increased only by 4,534 people, with 834 living in Istanbul, 399 in Izmir and 283 living in Ankara. The number of beneficiaries from Istanbul was 8,308 by June 2012, corresponding roughly to one third of the total. As of June 2012, there were around 2,000 beneficiaries in Izmir, 1,900 in Ankara and 600 in Bursa.