EXTENDED SUMMARY

Examination of labor market indicators is crucial because such indicators provide information about the structure of an economy. Labor force participation, unemployment, and employment rate constitute the primary indicators in the topic and the investigation of these by gender and age group describes the labor market in a more detailed manner.

The analysis of the labor market for various regions or economies is frequently conducted for the youth (15-24 aged individuals) and women as both groups signal vulnerability in the labor market. The youth frequently face many challenges in the labor market and the primary ones can be listed as having no or less experience, being affected by crises to a larger extent compared to adults, being more prone to precarious employment, and working at lower wages (Karabıyık, 2012; Tilev, 2018; Umutlu & Öztürk, 2020). These problems become chronic in most economies and as a consequence of this situation, such problems reflect in the following age groups in some economies. Accordingly, the age group followed by youth, the young adults suffer from mentioned labor market problems in many economies, including Turkey. Following Knijn (2012b: 9) and Rumbaut (2011: 2), this study defines young adults as the 25-34 age group.

The vulnerability of the second-mentioned group, women, mostly arises from the perception that household labor and care activities are primarily the duty of females (Ekiz Gökmen, 2017). Thus, women frequently put too much effort to balance household labor and their career if they are active in the labor force; while some choose to remain out of the labor force due to the heavy load of household labor and cultural perceptions. The issue becomes even more challenging for young adult women, who are at the fertility age. These women mostly face a trade-off between bearing a child and being in the labor force at the beginning of their careers. Considering the social norms and participation of women in the labor force, Turkey is an economy that experiences challenges in this issue. Thus, the examination of the labor market status of young adult women in Turkey is crucial to avoid any structural problems that result in the exclusion of these women from the economic life at the beginning of their work life.

As the first attempt in the literature, this study aims to examine the 25-34 aged young adult women in the Turkish labor market focusing on the macro perspective. The study utilizes various labor market indicators to present the labor market status of the mentioned group and aims to offer policy recommendations to increase the engagement of the specific group in the labor market. The findings of the research show that while the labor force participation and employment rates of young adult females were lower, the unemployment rate for young adult females was higher compared to their male counterparts in Turkey between 2015 and 2020. Considering the 25-29 age group, the NEET rate for women was extremely high compared to men in Turkey and women in other OECD economies (OECD, 2021b). The relevant rate was 53.67% in 2019, showing that over half of the young adult women in Turkey were idle in the economy. The examination of the part-time employment for young adults indicates that the share of women in total part-time workers, particularly in the 30-34 age group, was extremely higher than men and the gap between the two sexes keeps widening. The sectoral composition of young adult women’s employment shows that %68.26 of the young-adult women employment worked in the services sector in 2019. Because the services sector includes sub-sectors that require a diversified level of technological intensity, the study also investigates the composition of the sub-sectors. The findings show that the top three services sub-sectors the young adult women in Turkey worked in were education (%24.4), wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (17.7%), and human health services and social work activities (15.9%) in 2019 (Eurostat, 2021b). The examination of the educational attainment of young adult women that are active in the labor force signifies that young adult females are more qualified than their male counterparts. The statistics show that over half of the 25-34 aged young adult women that are active in the labor force have a higher education degree. After examining the young adult women in Turkey using various labor market indicators from the macro perspective, the study also offers some policy recommendations that can be divided broadly into two main categories. The first category includes policy recommendations for increasing the participation of females in the labor force. The policies in this group mostly emphasize the importance of adjusting household labor and care activities so that women can be more engaged in economic life. The second category of policy recommendations includes a set of policies that aim to decrease the unemployment level for young adult women in Turkey.