Policy Note / Esen Caglar, Ozan Acar, Haki Pamuk "Turkish Unemployed People Are Older Than Ever"

Turkish economy has experienced two important structural changes since the 2001 crisis. The macroeconomic climate has become relatively more stable on the one hand, and significant changes have occurred in the production pattern of our economy, parallel to increasing integration with the global economy and technological advances on the other hand.1 It is inevitable that such structural changes in the economy and production spheres have had reflections on the labor market.

Recently in Turkey, it is not the unemployment that has been increasing, but also average age of unemployed people has significantly increased. It is necessary to conduct comprehensive studies regarding employment and unemployment dynamics, which comprise many elements. Nevertheless, at the first glance one would see that there has been a noticeable qualitative change concerning unemployment.

Unemployment among middle-age population has been increasing more than that of other age groups. And, this is the first time that Turkish economy has been experiencing such trend, which may have heavy social consequences. Although unemployment among younger population was more noticeable during early stages of the stable economic growth unemployment among middle-age population has become more common as the growth progresses.