While the number of refugees flooding into the country increases each and every day, it is favorable to approach them as a beneficial phenomenon that, in the long run, will positively impact the country’s economy, demographic structure and help meet its various needs. In this section, I will discuss the benefits of having refugees in the country from multiple lenses while refuting the perception of refugees as a threat.
Refugees as The Fulfilment of Unqualified Employee Segment
According to multiple studies, the widely promoted idea that suggests refugees are stealing jobs or increasing the unemployment rate within Turkey is neither reliable nor valid. A study done by the central bank of Turkey and Turkish politician Nurettin Ceritoglu in early 2017 revealed that 18.8% of the refugees could not read or write. Also, 9.5% of them can read and write yet; they did not complete any level of education. 33% of them have only completed the elementary level of education. 19.4% of them completed middle school education. 9.6% of them completed pre-license education, and 9.7% completed education above bachelor level.[1] It is evident from these datasets that the refugees currently located in Turkey are not qualified enough for the jobs requiring further eligibility. Therefore, we can interpret this data as these refugees are fulfilling the need for unequipped employees to work in dirty works in Turkey. The term "dirty work" in refugee terminology refers to the exploitation of unauthorized immigrant populations. The refugees, mostly the unqualified ones, are seen as cheap labor in households, farms and stockyards, which are the jobs that do not require further education.[2] The studies about this issue reveal that refugees are generally working jobs that local people aren’t diligent about taking. Table 1 shows the refugee numbers by job occupation and, in contrast, the number of Turkish people working at the same job.[3]
Among these occupations, laborers and constructers, stationery plants, and machine operators are abundant in Syrian refugees. In contrast, the share of Turkish people doing the same jobs is relatively minor. Researches state that the native people do not want to perform these occupations, and refugees are the only workforce to fulfil this employee segment.[4] In other words, refugees are not stealing jobs but instead taking the jobs that no one else is willing to take. The same studies also indicated that the only affected group from this increasing unqualified workforce of Syrians is native unskilled workers, which means a small group who have not received a certain level of education. [18] Yet, this does not directly affect the unemployment rate. [26] Most employers choose to employ refugees rather than native workers because hiring a native requires paying for their insurance and providing them with a safe environment. Since most employers exploit refugees as cheap labor, they do not provide them with a proper work environment. Due to the lack of qualification, refugees are obligated to do any job to earn a living, though studies show that most people who die in work accidents are refugees.[5]
Economic and Demographic Aspects of Having Refugees
Selen Çotlu, and Salih Ozturk, Turkish economists, state, "it is unlikely that the Syrian refugee flood, which has a negative impact on the country's development, will be resolved in the near future." [19] In their thesis, they emphasize the negative aspects of the flood of refugees and claim that the flow of refugees is vitally hurting the economy. However, when we look at data, we can see that in 2017, Turkey's economy grew 7.4%.[6] According to the acclaimed economist Ercan Erguzel, Syrian refugees located in the country since 2011 have contributed immensely to this growth for a couple of reasons. The most crucial is that the Turkish companies provide their day-to-day needs, which eventually contributes remarkably to the economy. [24] Furthermore, according to a report by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, the Syrian refugees living in refugee camps also have a significant impact on the economy as the national economy provides for their needs. Yet again, according to this release, the textile and nutrition market are the ones that benefit most from the presence of the Syrian refugees in the country.[7] The IMF stated by looking at the cases of Germany and Australia, where the integration of refugees was successful, which led them to map a positive growth in their economies,[8] “immigration can bring substantial benefits to advanced economies, in terms of higher per capita GDP and standards of living. These gains are broadly shared by the population. But the key to reaping these benefits is to address the challenges posed by migration in the short term and, in particular, to ensure that migrants are integrated into the labor market.”[9]
As of 2017, studies indicated that there are 940,921 Syrian workers in Turkey [8]. By being involved in the work cycle and being present in the country, refugees are actually easing the burden on the insurance and healthcare system. Turkstat stated that the aging population in Turkey increased by 22.5% over the past five years, boosting the number of older people in Turkey to approximately 8 million.[10] As the nation ages, the dependence on health insurance also increases. However, currently, the average refugee age located in Turkey is 23.0 years old. (Figure 4)
Therefore, we can say that this creates a balance within the nation. The senior population is increasing; this drives higher health care expenses as they are more dependent. However, with this refugee flow, the burden on the healthcare system eases, and the costs can be kept at a fixed level. Similarly, the abundance of younger generations means an increased workforce and the capacity to develop the country. According to the Social Security Agency of Turkey, as of 2020, it is estimated that 1.80 people ought to be actively working to provide one's pension.[11] Therefore the increase in the workforce also eases the burden on the insurance system. [25]
Decrease in Crime Rates: Presence of Refugees
The debate of whether Syrian immigrants impact crime rates has been an ongoing conversation. In Figure 5, Turkey's crime rate from 2004 to 2018 is visible. Within this period of time, the crime rates have been unstable and vary a lot. However, it is visible that after 2011 the crime rate notably increased but dramatically decreased between 2012 to 2015. This time coincided with the influx of Syrian refugees to Turkey. So, after interpreting the table, we can say that the crime rate has decreased after refugees arrived in the country. When it comes to discussing the crime rates in the context of the flow of refugees into a particular country, it is possible to encounter two main arguments. The first one states that since there is an expansion in population due to refugees coming into the country, the number of people who could potentially commit a crime also increases. However, the other primary argument in this issue states the exact opposite: claiming that having refugees in the country could reduce crime rates since the central authority will take more strict precautions towards the possibility of someone committing a crime when there is an inflow of people into the country. Therefore, this view suggests that the central authority will suppress crimes at a substantial rate among the refugees and native people.[12] This phenomenon reveals that Syrian refugees actually do not increase the crime rates, and those who say the contrary have no evidence to support their claim. The paper named Do Refugees Cause Crime? by Aysegul Kayaoglu, an academic from the economics department in Istanbul Technical University, discusses this exact phenomenon. Based on this study published in a journal put together by Economic Research Forum, that paper concludes that “crime rates did not increase after refugee inflows, irrespective of their size,” after approaching the refugee problem from various lenses. [37]
[3] Pinedo Caro 2020
[4] Ertekin, Sumeyye 2020
[5] Akyıldız, Ekmekçi, Başlıgil 2020
[8] Thompson, Wissink 2019
[10] Anadolu Agency 2021a
[11] Social Security Agency, 2021a
[12] Kayaoglu, 2021. 8-13