Youth Unemployment on the Rise in 2 Countries in Europe, One of Them Turkey

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Releasing a statement on its official website on January 15, 2019, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced the unemployment rate in Turkey in October 2018 as 11.6 percent, which means that 3 million 788 thousand people are unemployed in Turkey.

When compared with the figures announced in the same month last year, it is also seen that the unemployment rate has increased by 1.3 percent or by 501 thousand people over the last year.

When the annual unemployment averages are considered, the figures have shown that the unemployment rate in Turkey has been gradually increasing since 2012. While the unemployment rate was 8.4 percent in 2012, it was 9 percent in 2013, 9.9 percent in 2014, 10.3 percent in 2015, 10.9 percent in 2016 and 2017 and 10.7 percent in the first 10 months of 2018.

Youth (age 15-24) unemployment

According to the data shared by the TurkStat, the rate of unemployment among young adults (age 15-24) has also been on the increase.

The figures of the Institute have shown that the youth unemployment has increased by 3 points in comparison with the same month last year and become 22.3 percent in October 2018. In 2017, this rate was 19.3 percent. In other words, 1 million 167 thousand young adults are without a job in Turkey.

When the annual unemployment averages among young adults are considered, it can be seen that while the youth unemployment rate was 15.8 percent in 2012, it was 17.1 percent in 2013, 17.9 percent in 2014, 18.6 percent in 2015, 19.7 percent in 2016 and 20.7 percent in 2017. In the first 10 months of 2018, this figure is measured as 19.7 percent.

Youth unemployment on the rise in 2 European countries: Iceland and Turkey

When the countries in Europe are taken into consideration, Greece and Spain, which have still not fully recovered from the global financial crisis of 2008, have the highest number of young adults who are unemployed. Greece and Spain are followed by Italy, Cyprus and Portugal.

Turkey ranks sixth in the list of youth unemployment after these five countries. However, while the rate of unemployment has been gradually decreasing in these five countries, there are only two countries in Europe, whose unemployment rates are rising, namely Iceland and Turkey.

According to the statistics shared by the Eurostat, while the unemployment rate among young adults in Iceland was 7.1 percent in 2007, it increased to 8.8 percent in 2015. Falling to the level of 6.5 percent in 2016, the youth unemployment has again increased to 8.2 percent in 2017.

Workforce by level of education and profession

According to the Doğruluk Payı (Grain of Truth) website, while the rate of participation in workforce among university graduates was 80.2 percent in 2017, this rate among the analphabets was 18.8 percent. As for the highest rate of unemployment based on level of education, it was measured among high-school graduates with 13.3 percent.

When considered by profession, it can also be seen that the highest rate of unemployment has been measured in the fields of art, computer and journalism. While the rate of unemployment among journalists was 20.3 percent in 2009, it increased to 29.2 percent in 2014 and again receded to the level of 19.1 percent in 2017. (HA/SD)