Western Black Sea Region Workforce Indicators
Although industrial activities in the Western Black Sea region are mainly based on mining and iron and steel industry, today important investments and initiatives have started to be implemented in the region in different sectors and fields.
The youth unemployment rate in the Western Black Sea Region is quite high and nearly 30 percent of the unemployed in the region are young people. The unemployment rate will be 24.4 percent in the young population in the 15-19 age group in 2022; In the 20-24 age group, it is 30.8 percent. 13.7 percent in the 25-35 age group; 9.1 percent in the 35-54 age group; The rate was lower in the 55 and older group than in the younger group, with a rate of 3 percent.
In the Western Black Sea Region, the 15-24 age group stands out as a special intervention area with its unemployment rate. The unemployment rate in this age group in the region has the highest rate among the 26 NUTS 2 Regions. The female unemployment rate in the same age group is the second highest in Turkey.
When the values regarding the net migration rate of the Western Black Sea Region in the 2008-2022 periods are examined, it is seen that it generally appears to be a region that gives migration. This situation reveals the necessity of disseminating entrepreneurship culture through efforts to strengthen human capital that can contribute to employment.
New Opportunities in Vocational Education
Filyos Valley Project is one of the most important projects of the region, which includes an industrial zone (344 hectares Filyos Industrial Zone, 253 hectares TPAO Industrial Zone), a free zone (1,044 hectares), a free zone expansion area (620 hectares) and an international port (25 million tons/year capacity). The region where the project will be carried out has multi-modal transportation opportunities including sea, railway, road and air. Hydrocarbon reserves in the Sakarya gas field in the region will be brought ashore from Filyos, processed here and connected to the national network via pipeline.
A cooperation protocol was signed between the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) and Turkish Petroleum Offshore Technology Center (TP-OTC) to train local and national human resources for the oil and natural gas sector. Within the scope of this protocol, "Offshore Drilling Technology" and "Offshore Drilling Technology" departments were opened at Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University in 2022 and their quotas were filled. Students graduating from these programs, which will play an important role in meeting the need for technical personnel based on scientific foundations and developing solutions to the problems of the drilling sector, will be able to take part in the production, land transmission and distribution of natural gas in the Filyos Region off the Black Sea.
With the implementation of the project, a significant amount of qualified workforce will be needed. Therefore, researching possible job opportunities that may be needed within the scope of the project and training the human resources that will be needed are important for the region to keep up with these developments and take actions that will provide the highest level of benefit and quickly implement them.
SiberVatan Program
In recent years, new talents and initiatives have begun to emerge in our country with efforts to strengthen human capital in the field of digital technologies. Customized training activities in this field, based on qualified human resources, create a great impact and especially mediate the orientation of young people to these fields. Cyber security-focused capacity building efforts within the scope of the Cyber Homeland Program in the Western Black Sea Region have begun to bear fruit in recent years and have been moved to the national level. The coordination of the Cyber Homeland Program at the national level is carried out by the Western Black Sea Development Agency.
In the Cyber Homeland program, which has achieved significant national and international success, software training is given to high school students and cyber security training is provided to university students, ensuring specialization in cyber security sub-themes.
In addition to the Cyber Homeland Competence Centers on the campuses of Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University and Bartın University, which were completed in 2023, the institutional structure for the activities will be completed with the Cyber Homeland Competence Center to be completed at Karabük University in the 2024-2026 period. It is planned to focus on technology entrepreneurship studies for students who gain expertise in areas such as cyber security, software, graphic design, internet of things, robotic systems and block chain in the Competence Centers to start their own businesses. With the new term studies, it is planned to increase technology-based initiatives and businesses in the region, support the entrepreneurship ecosystem in this field and lead the spread of the system to Turkey.
Within the scope of the new term Agency studies, it is also aimed to organize training programs on digital skills in areas such as graphic design, data processing, data analysis, internet of things, artificial intelligence, block chain, cyber security, quantum and robotics, to establish national collaborations that will ensure the sustainability of employment increase, and to develop human resources for the technologies of the future.
It is planned to organize short-term training for entrepreneurs and long-term training for students with programs to be implemented in the field of digital technologies. In addition, it is aimed to prepare students for working life and increase their competencies through internship programs.