Youth unemployment in South Europe and Turkey:Issues and policies

Today, both developed and developing countries are in a struggle with the problem of unemployment. As a result of the researches, it was concluded that some disadvantaged groups (young, old, disabled, women, immigrants) suffered more from the unemployment problem. Within the scope of the study, how the youth unemployment rates of Turkey and Southern European (Italy, Spain, Greece) countries, which are similar in terms of their geopolitical positions and welfare regimes, have followed over the years, what problems youth unemployment causes on the individual, society and economy, and how these chronic It has been tried to compare how the problem is dealt with. Within the scope of the study based on Eurostat data, in these countries with an average of 9% to 16% young population, passive employment policies dominated until the 2008 Economic Crisis, youth unemployment that increased approximately 2.5 times with the crisis, and passive employment policies that are no longer sufficient, as well as active They are trying to fight youth unemployment with employment policies. The findings obtained as a result of the study have concluded that youth unemployment is almost 2 times and/or more than the general unemployment rates, the policies applied to combat youth unemployment are insufficient when looking at the unemployment rates of the countries or they cannot fully respond to the labor market. It has been observed that the economic crises experienced as a result of the integration of economies with each other have a serious negative impact on youth unemployment. Within the scope of the research, it is another inference that the education levels affect youth unemployment according to the development status of the countries, and the transfer of economies to the international level and the emergence of new working styles have effects on youth unemployment. In Southern European countries, which still have very high youth unemployment rates today, around 2 in 10 youth unemployment is involved. Although this rate is lower in Turkey, it is at a very high level compared to most European Union or OECD countries.