Apprenticeship, child labor and small scale production in Turkey

Abstract

This thesis examines the practice of apprenticeship in Turkey in relation tothe scale of production and the labor market. After reviewing the. historical background of apprenticeship as a system of vocational trainingand career development, both in the Western world and in Turkey, thecategory of `child labor` is explored. The ways in which child labor isdistinguished from apprenticeship as a formal model of vocational trainingis discussed, particularly as this differentiation was institutionalized inindustrialized countries, and in relation to apprenticeship in semiindustrializedand developing countries, including Turkey. The mainargument of this thesis is that the lower the level of industrialization of acountry, the higher the pers:;entage of child labor where children areworking informally in small-scale production and services sectors underthe guise of apprenticeship, such that they constitute the major source oflabor for these businesses. Tl).is is primarily because as the economy isindustrialized and higher technology is introduced into production, theincentives for employers to avoid child labor increases due to the highcosts and risks involved in illegal employment, and the use of unskilledlabor for jobs requiring technical skill. Based on an in-depth analysis ofthe employment conditions of a sample of 32 apprentices in six differentsectors, this thesis concludes that a great majority of children employed injobs in Turkey under the category of apprenticeship are employedpredominantly in small-scale production and service sectors, and fall intothe category of child-labor, where they are employed illegally, receivepoor or no proper job training and constitute the major labor-force of thesector.