Hidden Workforce Map: Those Left Outside the System, Those Inside Life
Jul 3, 2025
Every morning, Ayşe prepares her children for school at home, then takes care of her elderly mother… When the season arrives, Hasan packs his suitcase and travels from city to city, working in the fields… Nihat, aged 68, who retired after years of work but is still looking for a job to make ends meet… And Zeynep, who is considered "unskilled" because she lacks a diploma but has dozens of skills… They are parts of an invisible labor chain.
They work, produce, and contribute, but they do not appear in official labor force data. They are the hidden workforce — or in the global literature, the "hidden workforce". The system excludes them, but they are right at the heart of life.
What is the Hidden Workforce? Who Does it Include?
The hidden workforce consists of individuals who participate in economic activity but are not recorded in official records. These individuals do not meet the traditional definitions of labor and are considered "unemployed" or "not included in the labor force" by the system. However, most produce, provide care, transport, and sustain in unseen ways.
Why Are They Invisible?
These people are not outside the system; they have been pushed out of the system. Why?
Because they have no diplomas but they have skills.
Because they have no social security, but they work every day.
Because their backgrounds are not "clean", but they want to build a new life.
Because caregiving work is not considered "work", but they are on duty 24/7.
Because agricultural workers who work in the fields before sunrise carry the production burden, but most are unregistered.
Because disabled individuals want to work but struggle to find access, understanding, and support.
When the labor market is defined with narrow criteria, these people become invisible. HR processes, CV filters, automated matches, and cultural biases exclude them from the start.
🌱 So What Do They Contribute?
The hidden workforce is not just made up of those who want to work; it is a group that is already working but is ignored. They are not in the background of the economy; they are at the hidden engine of it.
If seasonal farm workers do not work in the fields, tables will be empty; the food chain will break.
Housewives keep society afloat with caregiving work, but what they do is never measured by salary.
Immigrant workers carry the burden of the system across many areas from cleaning to construction, from textiles to the service sector.
Disabled individuals provide high focus, problem-solving ability, and institutional diversity benefits when accessibility is provided.
Ex-convicts are reintegrated into society when employed, but when excluded, the cycle of crime starts again.
Informal workers are those whom the system considers "missing" but bear the actual burden of irregularity.
Steps Taken to Include Them in the System
SOCIAL Security premium incentives for employing disabled individuals (up to 100% premium support)
Mandatory employment of disabled people for businesses with 50+ employees (at a rate of 3%)
Vocational training programs and placement support for the disabled through İŞKUR
Premium discounts and project-based grant support for the employment of ex-convicts
Special SGK premium support for women's employment (between 12-54 months)
SGK incentives for the employment of long-term unemployed individuals
METİP for seasonal agricultural workers (housing, hygiene, education, health support)
Grant support for women, youth, and disabled entrepreneurs from KOSGEB and İŞKUR
Collaboration between local governments and NGOs to develop social employment models
🔮 What About the Future?
Ignoring the hidden workforce is not just a social blindness now; it is an economic loss. Because the world is changing rapidly: job definitions are stretching, new-generation business models are growing, and flexible work is becoming the norm.
And this transformation will make certain truths visible:
Human resources will have to look not only at CVs but also at human potential.
Companies will have to see diversity not as a showcase but as a source of efficiency and innovation.
Public policies will be built not just on incentives but on access and equality models.
The business world will have to draw the hidden workforce into the system with concepts like "secure flexibility".
New technologies, especially remote and digital business models, will create opportunities for disabled individuals, mothers, and those living in rural areas.
One Last Word
This article is not just a call for awareness, but also a thank you and an invitation. One of our founding partners, Seçil AKSOY has inspired us by expressing the potential and importance of the hidden workforce at every opportunity. We thank her for contributing to the shaping of this article and illuminating our efforts to make the invisible labor visible.
As Keiken, we stand by everyone who is outside the system but has a great contribution to life. If you think you are part of the hidden workforce, and you want to share your talents and participate in working life, you can contact us. We are ready to listen, support, and produce together.
Because we believe: Every voice deserves to be heard, every effort deserves to be valued.