The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 5th it will ease the requirements for employers in the air transport industry and in the rubber and plastics sectors, which are facing difficulties in securing materials and supplies due to the U.S.-Iran war, to receive employment retention subsidies. It said the subsidies will be paid even if the existing sales decline criteria are not met. Employment retention subsidies are a system in which the government supports part of the allowances paid by employers when they take employment retention measures such as suspensions or leaves instead of laying off workers.
The measure followed a roundtable the ministry held with the aviation and tourism industries on the 27th of last month. At the meeting, the aviation industry said the sharp rise in oil prices is increasing expense burdens and, if route reductions continue, employment adjustments will be inevitable, and it requested that subsidy requirements be eased.
The ministry also added rubber and plastics manufacturing, which is struggling due to difficulties in securing naphtha, a basic petrochemical feedstock, to the eased eligibility list. In addition, employers whose requirements have been eased in the petroleum refined products manufacturing industry, the chemicals and chemical products manufacturing industry, the air transport industry, and the rubber and plastics manufacturing industry, as well as employers in a transaction relationship with them for whom the transaction amount accounts for 50% or more of sales, will be added to the eased eligibility list.