An econometric analysis of the factors effective on youth unemployment in Turkey from 1990 to the present

Nowadays, the problem of youth unemployment is among the major economic, social and communal problematic issues of national economies all around the world. Alike in many other countries, the rate of youth unemployment in Turkey also has dramatically increased since 1990 in the wake of the effects of globalization process. Therefore, it is obvious that this challenging issue may likely lead to more serious troubles in the long run if unemployment among the Turkish youth which constitutes a very large portion of the country population has not been resolved and overcome. The reality that the rate of youth unemployment in Turkey has continued to increase for the last 15 years despite the economic improvements and recovery achieved during that period of time unveils the importance of employment policies in dealing with youth unemployment and has focused attention onto the fact that the task of reducing the rate of youth unemployment does not depend on economic growth solely. The first section of this study primarily starts with a discussion on the concept "young" with its various definitions in the existing literature which change from one country to another and then presents a broad examination of the major reasons underlying youth unemployment problem and its impacts on the economy. In the second section of the study, the focus is on youth unemployment in Turkey with its increasing trend along the years and it is aimed to portray the unemployment profile of Turkey by analyzing the employment policies currently and actively implemented for unemployed young people. Eventually, the last section covers the methodological details and findings of some econometric analyses and tests conducted to explore the effects of several macroeconomic and social factors on youth unemployment by arguing any potential connections between youth unemployment and the macro factors of interest.