Unemployed University Graduates More Than Doubled in a Decade, CHP MP Warns

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The already high increase in youth unemployment might be exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic in absence of "realistic measures," main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Özgür Karabat has warned.

The number of unemployed university graduates has increased two and a half fold over the past decade, he said, citing Turkish Statistical Institution (TurkStat) figures.

About 900,000 students will graduate in July and 600,000 of them will be actively seeking a job, he noted, adding that "Millions of young people currently studying at the university are in great despair."

"Considering that there has been almost no increase in the number of university graduate employees in the last two years and the economic damage caused by the pandemic, it is understood that a significant portion of these 900 thousand young people will be unemployed," he remarked.

Increase in the number of universities

Karabat noted that the unemployed university graduates increased at the same time with the increase in the number of universities in the country since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002.

"Unemployed university graduates are 51 percent more than 5 years ago, 139 percent more than 10 years ago, and 263 percent more than 15 years ago. If the measure is not taken, there will be twice more unemployed university graduates in 2021 than today.

"From the foundation of the republic to the AKP era, 79 universities were opened and during the AKP era, 129 universities were opened. The burden of organizing education without planning is on the shoulders of the youth."

Seventy-five thousand new teachers every year

On the universities, Karabat gave the following information:

"To explain this with a few examples, 120 young people will graduate from the undergraduate departments of business and management fields such as banking, insurance, accounting, advertising and business. The number increases to over 200,000 when associate, master and doctorate degrees are included.

"At least 17,000 law graduates will join us. Law graduates are employed by law offices for under the minimum wage. Now 17,000 more lawyers will be added to the labor market.

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"This year, at least 60,000 young people will graduate in the field of social and behavioral sciences such as economics, psychology, sociology and political science.

"20,000 graduates in construction and architecture, 60,000 graduates from educational sciences, 75 thousand graduates in engineering... What kind of career will these young people have? Moreover, how will they earn their income? The government has no answer to these questions."

He further said that 75,000 students graduate from teacher education departments every year and half of them cannot be appointed.

One out of 10 people is a university student in Turkey

Karabat said there are a total of 7.9 million university students in the country, citing the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) figures. This means almost one in every 10 people is a university student in the country of 82 million.

"According to YÖK figures, there are a total of 3 million 825 thousand university students as of the 2019-2020 school year. When those who study at distance education faculties are added, the number reaches 7 million 940 thousand.

"Since 2014, the number of university students has increased by 32 percent, excluding those in distance education. Therefore, approximately one in every 10 people in the country have become a university student. But Turkey's economic capacity is not strong enough to be able to employ these students." (HA/VK)