School-to-work transition: The integration of young school leavers into Turkish labour market

Young school leavers has mainly effected by educational system and labour market institutions in Turkish labour market. The institutional influence can also be seen on irregular nature of school-to-work transitions in Turkey. The youth labour market are characterised by high youth unemployment ratio, extensive educational mismatches, great share of NEETs and the low capacity of public employment services on creating jobs for young people. This study aims to analyse the integration of young school leavers into Turkish labour market and try to determine the labour market outcomes. For this purpose, an empirical analysis has carried out to estimate the determinants of first job search time, first job duration and first job quality between the age group 15-24 by using TURKSTAT 2016 Transition of Youth into Labour Market Survey data set. According to the ordered logit model results, educational level has a positive effect on first job search time, on the other hand, it has an unfavourable impact on job stability by reducing first job duration. Having a work experience during education provides more advantage to young people for finding their first job faster and prolong the first job duration than having an educational credential. Logit model results indicate that young women and those who have work experince during education are more likely to work in temporary jobs. The most disadvantage young people in terms of first job search time, which is known as the vital period of school-to-work transition are, age group of 20-24, young women between the age 20-24, low educated young people and the ones who have not work experience during education.