The betrayal of Turkey's youth
With a median age of 30, Turkey has a young population. But what does their country offer them? Not jobs, for a start. Turkey has had high youth unemployment since before the Gezi Park protests in 2013, but August 2019 marked an all-time high, with 27% of 15-to-34-year-olds - equivalent to some 2.8 million young people - out of work.
Furthermore, in the last 15 years the number of unemployed university graduates has increased tenfold. Currently, 26% of university graduates are unable to find a job. In October, a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Ahmet Akin, stated in parliament that 5 million university graduates could not pay off their student loans.
With a stagnant job market combined with the political turmoil and economic instability of recent years, it is little wonder that Turkey's finest brains have sought opportunities elsewhere. A recent youth report for the CHP found that more than 70% of young Turks said they would live abroad if they had the chance.
Data from the Turkish Statistical Institute show that 250,000 Turks moved to a different country in 2017 and another 300,000 joined them in 2018, of whom 42% were aged between 20 and 34. Since those who move abroad are likely to speak a second language, and have internationally recognized qualifications, transferable skills and experience, it is likely that Turkey is losing the most talented members of its workforce.
Although President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims there are efforts under way to bring them back, the latest emigration figures would suggest those efforts are not working, if they exist at all.
According to Yalç?n Karatepe, dean of the political science faculty of Ankara University, when the 27% of young people who are out of work are added to the 29% who are not enrolled in an educational institution, it means a staggering 56% of Turkey's young people - those aged between 15 and 34 - are forced into idleness. "One out of two young people in Turkey is in fact doing nothing," he said.
In an interview on CNN Türk in 2017, journalist Serdar Kuzuloglu quoted data that showed that 30% of 15-to-30-year-olds earned less than 600 Turkish lira (US$104) per month, which amounts to the equivalent of 20 lira ($3.50) per day. Thirty-three percent in the same age group earned between the equivalent of $104 and $260 per month, while only 22% were on a monthly salary of $415 or more. "It is by no means surprising that what these young people spend most of their time doing is just walking around. It's all they can afford," Kuzuloglu said. "How are they expected to create a future?"
That 'lost generation' now is around 6 millionstrong, but how long before technological advancements mean they are left behind for good? That "lost generation" now is around 6 millionstrong, but how long before technological advancements mean they are left behind for good?
The backlash that will follow the loss of the country's intellectual capital is incalculable.
Turkey's big selling point has always been its dynamic, well-educated youth. That youth now is in crisis. In a rapidly changing world, young Turks are falling behind not only in their experience of work but in their qualifications, as the quality of Turkish higher education also raises a number of questions that are rarely addressed.
Turkey has nearly 200 universities. Not one of them is in the Times Higher Education ranking of the top 350 institutions. After the attempted coup of 2016, 6,000 academics were removed from their posts. Since all university leaders are appointed by the president, those positions are filled by those who share the same political ideology rather than by candidates chosen on merit.
A long-standing problem in the country is a lack of versatility in the job market. The driving force of the Turkish economy still is its construction industry, which employs around 2 million people, of whom more than 1.5 million are manual workers. The fast-growing creative industries, on the other hand, tend to employ fewer people. A job for life - or even for a decent number of years - is a thing of the past.
Turkey's position as the 27th-largest export economy in the world largely is a result of its manufacturing sector. Vehicles, machinery and iron production account for more than $54.2 billion of Turkey's $140 billion worth of annual exports. All are sectors that could quite easily be switched to automation, putting yet more people out of work.