Laborer

Hundreds of thousands of children across Turkey are working in agriculture, with the latest official figure from five years ago citing the number at 400,000. Experts say the real figure is much higher when Syrian refugee children are included.

There are almost 400,000 seasonal child agricultural laborers across Turkey, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) stated in 2012. 

A classified ad by a agricultural cooperative in central Larissa offering 20-euro-day positions for crop pickers attracted more than 400 applications recently, with prospective day laborers including university graduates as well as long-termed unemployed.

At least 139 workers died as a result of workplace hazards in March 2015, with the total death toll exceeding 351 over the first three months of 2015, according to a report by the Turkey-based Workplace Health and Safety Assembly. 

As Turkey debates work safety for laborers on private construction projects in the wake of a deadly incident in Istanbul, new pictures have emerged showing that those toiling at public buildings are little better off.