Nearly 6.8 million young people in Turkey were neither in school nor employed in the first quarter of 2026, according to official labor data, underscoring a persistent problem in one of the country’s most politically and economically sensitive age groups.
Data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed that 6.789 million people ages 15 to 34 were not in education or employment in the January-March period. The group accounted for 28.2 percent of Turkey’s roughly 24 million people in that age range.
The category is commonly known internationally as NEET — not in employment, education or training. It is broader than unemployment because it includes people who are not working or studying but may not be actively seeking a job.
The figures show that the problem has remained largely unchanged for years. In first-quarter data from 2021 to 2026, the share of 15 to 34-year-olds outside both education and employment ranged from 26.6 percent to 30.9 percent, according to an analysis by economist and columnist Alaattin Aktaş in the Turkish Ekonomim business daily.
The problem is more severe among older youths. Among those ages 15 to 24, 23.6 percent — about 2.7 million people — were neither studying nor working. The rate rose to 31.9 percent among those aged 25 to 29, or about 2 million people, and to 33 percent among those aged 30 to 34, also about 2 million people.
Women account for much of the gap. Among men aged 15 to 34, 17 percent were neither in education nor employment. Among women, the rate was 40 percent, meaning 4.7 million of the 11.8 million women in that age group were outside both school and work.
Turkey’s broader labor figures also show a large gender divide. TurkStat said the overall employment rate was 48.3 percent in the first quarter of 2026, with employment at 65.7 percent for men and 31.3 percent for women.
The data also point to difficulties facing young university graduates. Among university graduates aged 15 to 24, 32.5 percent were neither studying nor working in the first quarter of 2026. That group included 369,000 young people, 274,000 of them women and 94,000 men.
TurkStat’s first-quarter labor force data showed Turkey’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 8.2 percent , while youth unemployment stood at 15.2 percent . Among young women, the unemployment rate was 20.4 percent , compared with 12.6 percent among young men.
Economists trace many of Turkey’s labor-market problems to the economic turbulence that followed the country’s 2018 shift to an executive presidency. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has long argued that high interest rates cause inflation, repeatedly backed rate cuts despite soaring prices, contributing to currency crises and years of high inflation. Critics say the government’s reliance on cheap credit growth and construction projects failed to produce enough stable, high-skilled jobs for younger workers entering the labor market.
