The sclerization problem of the labor market in Turkey: The post-1990 period

The term 'Sclerization' in the medical literature describes the pathological hardening of tissues due to excessive growth of fibrous tissue or increased interstitial tissue, resulting in blockages. In labor economics, this concept is used metaphorically to refer to chronic blockages hindering labor markets' healthy and efficient functioning. Inefficient labor markets adversely affect the economic and social structure. This study aims to identify chronic issues obstructing the labour market's effective functioning and offer solutions for these issues. The study covers the labor market problems discussed in the literature (articles, master's theses, doctoral dissertations) and newspapers, as well as the opinions of labor market actors regarding chronic labor market problems. It is significant due to its effort to identify the core/concentrated area of labor market problems based on the Pareto principle (80/20 rule). By identifying the most concentrated area (20%), it is assumed that resolving the remaining 80% will be relatively more straightforward. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase involves a detailed literature review. In this phase, academic articles, master's, and doctoral theses written since 1990, and 22 national newspapers were screened based on predefined key concepts related to the labor market. Identified problems were classified according to their intensity, creating a base for field research. The second phase of the study involves field research. For this, a mixed questionnaire was prepared concerning the classified problem areas and applied to employees, unemployed individuals, human resources experts, academics, trade unions/confederation, Social Security Institution (SGK) officials, İŞKUR job and career consultants, and journalists. The data were analyzed using frequency analysis with IBM Statistic SPSS 22.0 software and content analysis with MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2024 software. The study concluded that the issues found in national newspapers and the literature do not differ from current labor market problems but show parallels. Participants were found to view the general state of the labor market, the employability of disadvantaged groups, the education-employment relationship, the impact of incentives on employment rates, the effectiveness of institutions in the labor market, and the adequacy of labor laws in meeting market needs at a "Sufficiently Good" level. The core areas of issues identified by calculating the arithmetic mean of the issues highlighted by all participant groups as extremely important include: educated unemployment (76.06%), unemployment (68.02%), working for low wages despite adequate qualifications (61.2%); issues related to disadvantaged groups include: workplace bullying (60.4%), women working for low wages (59.9%), child labor in the informal sector (59.76%), insufficient participation of women in the workforce (52.1%), gender discrimination/prejudice against women's employment (49.97%), female unemployment (47.45%); issues related to qualifications/education include: mismatch between the education system and labor markets (70.02%), difficulty in finding qualified blue-collar workers (58.95%), inadequacy of vocational training (57.37%); issues related to incentives-support and financial burdens include: high energy costs (64.78%), high transportation costs (63.56%), high raw material and processing costs (56%), rising food costs (53.11%); institutional issues include: generally insufficient institutional structure (53.02%) were identified as core/intensive areas within the scope of institutional problems. No significant issues were noted regarding problems arising from legislation for any participant group. The aim is to achieve an efficiently functioning labor market by resolving these issues.