Announcement of Turkey Employment and Training Project on December 14, 1992

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.* Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 93/36 Contact: Peter Riddleberger Tel: (202) 473-1786 TURKEY: EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROJECT The following is information on a project approved by the World Bank's Board. DATE: December 14, 1992 WORLD BANK GROUP SUPPORT: World Bank loan: $67 million. The World Bank loan is for 17 years, including five years of grace, with a variable interest rate, currently 7.60 percent, linked to the cost of the Bank's borrowings. It also carries an annual commitment charge of 0.25 percent on the undisbursed balance. TOTAL COST: $107.4 million OTHER PROPOSED FINANCING: Government of Turkey, $40.4 million IMPLEMENTING AGENCY: Ministry of Labor and Social Security ( ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: 2000 PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The objective of the Employment and Training Project is to (a) improve allocative efficiency through liberalized employment services; (b) improve the absorption of unemployed, unskilled workers in productive employment; (c) improve the efficiency of labor-market decisions by providing better information for several categories of users; and (d) promote women's productive employment. The project includes: (a) development and phased implementation of a strategy to diversify employment services; (b) generaliza- tion of the pilot program of job-insertion training developed by the Turkish Employment Agency (IIBK) (c) strengthening of public employment services, including the introduction of employment counseling for job seekers and screening of job seekers, the modernization of job placement practices, and improved management of employment services; (c) development and introduction of career counseling services in labor offices and secondary schools; (d) development and adoption of employer-relevant occupational standards and certification; (e) production and dissemination of information from various sources on labor-market trends;(f) deliberate actions to meet the needs of women's employment under project activities; and (g) conducting and dissemi- nating research on how to alleviate the constraints on women's employment.