Six million young Turkish citizens are unemployed, but 4.7 million of them are not even looking for a job. One out of three people between the ages of 15 to 29 are neither going to school nor working. Meanwhile, the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) is working hard to involve young people in the labor force.
The Turkish Confederation of Employers Association (TİSK) evaluated the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Skills Outlook 2015 report and the Turkish Statistical Institute's (TurkStat) 2014 Address-Based Population Registration System results, and found that 45 percent of women in Turkey between the ages of 15 and 26 are neither educated nor employed. OECD data reveal that Turkey's biggest problem, which is the number of "young people who are unemployed and do not receive higher education," is caused by the situation of women in Turkey. While 45.2 percent of young women in Turkey are both out of job and lack education, only 17.6 percent of young men are in the same situation as women. On the other hand, the OECD report suggests that 13.3 percent of young men and 17.7 percent of young women in Turkey are currently neither employed nor received education.
Despite TİSK's report, Turkey's youth unemployment rate is 19.9 percent - lower than the EU average - and surpassed 17 EU countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Poland, whose youth unemployment rate is 21.6 percent. According to TİSK's evaluation based on their 2013 data, there are 5,936,000 young people who are not being educated and are not employed. While 4,221,000 of these young people are women, 1,715,000 are men. Moreover, while 1,197,000 of these young people are still looking for a job, 4,739,000 people are not seeking work.
The study revealed that the problem with unemployed and unengaged Turkish youth concentrates on young women. The study found: "Assuming the passive rate is 80 percent, 3,500,000 young women are staying away from education as well as professional life, which leads to economic and social exclusion." The study also revealed that one of the most important topics that should be handled by the new government and employers in the near future is to help this young population become part of economic life. Young people between the ages 18 and 29 who attend trainings organized by İŞKUR and founded by employment incentives will be one step ahead of other people during their job search by the end of 2016. Employers who hire young people following three months of internship will receive incentive pay for 42 months in the production sector and 30 months for other sectors. Young unemployed people who applied to İŞKUR will also have an advantage following their on-the-job training.
The incentive pay for employment will also include a cut for insurance premiums. According to the new regulation, the employer will save TL 250 ($92.92) for each employee. In order for businessmen and businesswomen to benefit from this regulation, they should hire the person who finished his or her three-month on-the-job training as a part of İŞKUR.
