Labor Market Policies and EU Accession: Problems and Prospects for Turkey

The process of European Union Accession has provided a strong stimulus for various institutional changes in Turkey. The European Council decision taken at Helsinki (10-11 December 1999) was an important turning point in this process. The Accession Partnership, which followed the Helsinki summit, identified short and medium term priorities, intermediate objectives and conditions on which accession preparations must concentrate in the light of the political and economic criteria. One of the most important issues for Turkey regarding the adoption and implementation of the Community acquis is related with the labor market regulations and employment policies. The adoption of the Community acquis will certainly bring radical changes in the functio ning of the labor market in Turkey with vital consequences for firms, and workers, as well as the long-term performance of the economy. The aim of this study is to provide information for the use of these agents on the employment and labor market issues that are important during the EU accession process. Since the topic is rather broad, the current study has concentrated upon the possible effects of the adoption of the employment acquis regulating work and employment conditions, and issues like child labor, discrimination, social protection have been ignored. Acknowledgements An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Conference on Turkey: Towards EU Accession, Bilkent University, May 10-12, 2003. We would like to thank our discussant, Necdet Kenar, President of the Turkish Employment Organization, for his valuable comments and suggestions.