The labor market situation of Turkish youth

Abstract

Using data for the 1988 - 2006 period, we carry out descriptive and econometric analyses to examine the labor market outcomes of Turkish youthby gender, level of education, and other broad categorizations. In the econometric work, we investigate the link between youth unemployment and the general conditions in the labor market andalso compare the responsiveness of youth and adult employment to economic growth. We find that adult unemployment rates and relative cohort size are both significantly related with youth unemployment rates and,in comparison to adults, young labor force participants are at a disadvantagein terms of changes in employment status over the business cycles. In the face of persistent patterns such as higher unemployment rates and higher rates of unregistered employment among the younger workers, policy suggestions are made throughout the chapter for the improvement of the labor market situation of Turkish youth. © 2012 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.