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New project to encourage vocational training ERGİN HAVA İSTANBUL A joint education program between the Turkish £ Employment Organization (İŞKUR) and the Bahçeşehir University Vocational Training Development Center (METGEM) will train people, especially women, in child and elder care, the organizations announced Wednesday. The project aims to help find solutions to unemployment and vocational education problems in Turkey. Speaking to Today's Zaman, Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik said they want to encourage Turks, especially youngsters, to undertake child care and nursing elderly people at home. "There are currently thousands of foreign illegal workers working as caretakers for Turkish families, " he said. "We have a huge young population, and we want to make use of this potential and increase the number of qualified employees in Turkey. " Professor Deniz Ülke Anbogan, president of Bahcesehir University, said the new project will help Turkish women become more involved in social life - - something she said was urgently needed. She also said the project will strengthen family structure. "We will feel safer to commit our family members -- children and parents -- to the charge of people we know and who do their jobs well, " she said, emphasizing the importance of recruiting qualified employees. İŞKUR General Director Namık Ata said the project hoped to encourage more women to work in the family care business, noting that they had recently allocated 17 million euros granted by the EU to the project. Çelik said the Turkish unemployment rate decreased to 9. 9 percent in 2007 from 10. 3 percent in 2002, noting that every year, there are 700, 000 new people and that only 400. 000 of them can find jobs. He said that in the past five years, 15 million people moved to urban centers from rural areas, increasing the labor force in the cities. "Currently 45 percent of the labor force is in the service sector; we should focus on increasing this number by transferring more people to this sector, " he said, adding that they would establish councils in each of the 81 provinces. The councils will focus on the unemployment problems, conduct surveys, create solutions and report the data to the government four times a year. He also noted that İ5KUR Has started training courses in various cities and that 10, 000 of the 25, 000 trainees found jobs, underlining that vocational training plays an important role in solving unemployment problems. Celik suggested that people searching for jobs and employers looking for personnel register with İŞKUR and benefit from the facilities. "This will have a very important role in overcoming the unemployment problem in Turkey, " he said, noting that the Labor and Social Security Ministry' has allocated YTL 300, 000 in grants from the EU for the councils.

New project to encourage vocational training ERGİN HAVA İSTANBUL A joint education program between the Turkish £ Employment Organization (İŞKUR) and the Bahçeşehir University Vocational Training Development Center (METGEM) will train people, especially women, in child and elder care, the organizations announced Wednesday. The project aims to help find solutions to unemployment and vocational education problems in Turkey. Speaking to Today's Zaman, Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik said they want to encourage Turks, especially youngsters, to undertake child care and nursing elderly people at home. "There are currently thousands of foreign illegal workers working as caretakers for Turkish families, " he said. "We have a huge young population, and we want to make use of this potential and increase the number of qualified employees in Turkey. " Professor Deniz Ülke Anbogan, president of Bahcesehir University, said the new project will help Turkish women become more involved in social life - - something she said was urgently needed. She also said the project will strengthen family structure. "We will feel safer to commit our family members -- children and parents -- to the charge of people we know and who do their jobs well, " she said, emphasizing the importance of recruiting qualified employees. İŞKUR General Director Namık Ata said the project hoped to encourage more women to work in the family care business, noting that they had recently allocated 17 million euros granted by the EU to the project. Çelik said the Turkish unemployment rate decreased to 9. 9 percent in 2007 from 10. 3 percent in 2002, noting that every year, there are 700, 000 new people and that only 400. 000 of them can find jobs. He said that in the past five years, 15 million people moved to urban centers from rural areas, increasing the labor force in the cities. "Currently 45 percent of the labor force is in the service sector; we should focus on increasing this number by transferring more people to this sector, " he said, adding that they would establish councils in each of the 81 provinces. The councils will focus on the unemployment problems, conduct surveys, create solutions and report the data to the government four times a year. He also noted that İ5KUR Has started training courses in various cities and that 10, 000 of the 25, 000 trainees found jobs, underlining that vocational training plays an important role in solving unemployment problems. Celik suggested that people searching for jobs and employers looking for personnel register with İŞKUR and benefit from the facilities. "This will have a very important role in overcoming the unemployment problem in Turkey, " he said, noting that the Labor and Social Security Ministry' has allocated YTL 300, 000 in grants from the EU for the councils.