Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the world is facing a labour transformation on the scale of the Industrial Revolution, driven by artificial intelligence, robotics and rapid technological change.
Speaking at the OECD 6th Skills Summit in Istanbul on Monday, Erdogan said governments must properly understand and manage the shift as jobs disappear, new professions emerge, and human capital becomes the defining factor of national strength.
“Even looking at the reality of so-called ‘dark factories’ alone is enough to show that we are facing a transformation wave in labour similar to the Industrial Revolution,” he said.
He described fully automated production facilities—known as dark factories—as a clear sign of how deeply the workplace is changing.
AI boom
Erdogan said the global robotics market, currently valued at around $100 billion, is expected to reach $25 trillion by 2050, underlining the scale of the transformation ahead.
While the rise of AI offers major opportunities, he warned it also brings serious social risks if countries fail to prepare their workforces.
He pointed to structural inequalities that leave women, migrants and disadvantaged students unable to fully participate in the economy.
“No country that leaves a significant part of its human capital idle can embark on a truly strong development drive,” he said.
He stressed that this is not only an economic issue but also a matter of social justice and long-term national resilience.
Türkiye targets youth jobs, stronger workforce
Erdogan said Türkiye’s “Century of Türkiye” vision is centred on human capital and stronger coordination between the public and private sectors, universities, labour unions, local governments and civil society.
He noted that informal employment has fallen from more than 52 percent in the early 2000s to 24 percent in 2025, calling it the country’s strongest labour market performance in 23 years.
Vocational education, he said, has been redesigned to work more closely with industry and business needs.
“Our goal is to bring 3 million young people into employment within the next three years,” he said.
He also highlighted gains in women’s workforce participation, including higher employment rates and legal reforms extending maternity leave for working mothers to 24 weeks.
Erdogan said organisations like the OECD remain vital during this period of global economic and geopolitical change, praising the OECD Istanbul Centre for supporting international dialogue and policy planning.
