Youth underemployment in the Turkish labour market

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the factors affecting youth underemployment in the Turkish labour market using the nationally representative household labour survey (HLS) provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) for 2016 and 2018 and aims to reveal the changes occurring in the two-year period. In order to estimate youth underemployment, the logistic regression method is performed in the empirical analysis. The analysis is carried out for young people between the ages 15-24. The findings indicate that females are more likely to be underemployed as compared to males for both 2016 and 2018. Furthermore, young individuals graduated from university or masters are more likely to be underemployed for both years. The most important variable explaining the underemployment is the informal sector and individuals working in informal sector are more likely to be underemployed. Considering sectors, agricultural sector has more risk in terms of underemployment as compared to other sectors.