Affiliations: [a]
Vocational School of Social Sciences, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkiye | [b]
Department of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, Faculty of Political Sciences, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkiye
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Volkan Isik, Vocational School of Social Sciences, Hacettepe University, Talatpasa bulv. No.5 Opera, Altindag 06100, Ankara, Turkiye; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Occupational accidents are anticipated to decline when unregistered employment declines because of more regulated working conditions, inspections, and opportunities for legal protection. In the study, the accuracy of this presumption was examined. OBJECTIVE:This study aims to examine how to protective legal regulations generate a relationship between occupational accidents and informal employment such as the Occupational Health and Safety Law in Turkey. METHODS:In the research, which was structured within the framework of the quantitative method, various levels of relationship chains were created between informal employment and occupational accidents using correlation and slope calculations. The official data set was created using secondary data from the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Social Security Institution. RESULTS:It has been determined that the low positive correlation (r = 0.166) between unregistered employment and occupational accidents in 2008–2012 (pre-legislation period) in Turkey changed to the medium-negative direction (r=–0.602) in 2013–2020 (legislation period). While the assumption that unregistered employment would decrease in the first period was confirmed, the hypothesis was falsified by the increase in occupational accidents despite the decrease in informality in the second period. CONCLUSION:This study is unique because it shows that in a developing country where unregistered employment is high, the protective regulations for work accidents do not reflect a decrease in the number of work accidents in the short and medium term.
Keywords: Informal sectors, occupational accident, occupational health, occupational safety, government regulations, social security.
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-240158
Journal: Work, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-11, 2024
