There are increasing shortages of qualified builders and workers in the tourism sector in North Cyprus, Yeniduzen reports.
The post-pandemic period which led to global inflation and the gradual depreciation of the Turkish Lira has led to the shortfall.
Representatives of the construction, tradesmen and tourism sector speaking to Yeniduzen said that job opportunities had increased with the earthquake disaster in Turkey. Workers preferred to work in Turkey rather than North Cyprus.
They are being replaced by workers recruited from third countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. Industry representatives said that the supply of labour from these countries is not sufficient and pointed out that the quality of workmanship has decreased.
President of the Contractors Association, Cafer Gürcafer, said that no workers come to North Cyprus because of the earthquake in Turkey, where massive rebuilding in under way, and that the minimum wage gap between the two countries has almost closed. Pointing out that for these reasons, Turkish workforce does not choose to work in North Cyprus, Gürcafer said, “We started to turn to countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. Labour supply from these countries is not at the point we want, we have a lack of legal regulations. We need to complete these“, he said.
Pointing out that the quality of workmanship has decreased due to the lack of qualified workers, Gürcafer said that there are quality workers in Pakistan and Bangladesh; He stated that Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait prefer workers from these countries. Gürcafer said, “They pay a salary of 1,500 dollars and quality employees prefer these countries. The rest is up to us“, he said.
Gürcafer stated that the government should give importance to vocational high schools; He emphasised that there are no trained qualified personnel and said that if precautions are not taken, the service sector will be completely dependent on foreign sources. Sector representatives emphasised that training policies are essential to train intermediate staff.
“The government should review educational planning regarding vocational education”, he said.
“We need to develop models that will combine education and employment and guarantee employment, and find a way to provide most of the intermediate personnel we need in our own country, from our own people“.
Pointing out that it would not be possible to supply the required workforce from the Turkish Cypriot community, Gürcafer stated that it is possible to train the staff that make up the core staff in companies in North Cyprus.