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After years of economic expansion, Turkey’s economy faces a number of critical challenges, which could place significant downward pressures on the growth potential of the economy. Unemployment has increased since 2012 and stood at 11.7% in 2016, well above the OECD average. Despite this trend, overall employment has continued to grow. The number of people employed grew by an average annual rate of 3.0% between 2004 and 2013. Turkey is divided into 81 provinces that have strong regional disparities in terms of the distribution of jobs and skills. It is therefore critical to look at the role of local policies in fostering quality job creation, economic development and entrepreneurship opportunities.
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This report was prepared as part of the Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme within the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Local Development, and Tourism (CFE) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It has been undertaken in co‐operation with the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR). Special thanks should be given to Turkish officials within İŞKUR who contributed to this report and participated in the OECD study visits: Askin Toren, Kagan Bayramoglu, Uğur Tunc, and Yasin Velioglu.
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Turkey’s economy has proved resilient despite a significant number of external threats from the global economy. Future growth is fragile and will depend on improvements in competitiveness and productivity, as well as making better use of existing skills in the economy. Unemployment stood at 11.7% in 2016, which is above the OECD average and contrasts with recent downward trends across many OECD countries. More than 30% of young people in Turkey aged 15-29 were classified as NEET (i.e. not in education, employment or training) in 2014. This value is sharply lower than in 2005, but well above the OECD average of 15.2%.
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The OECD Reviews on Local Job Creation involves a series of international comparative reports in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy (Autonomous Province of Trento), Korea, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States (California and Michigan). The key stages of each review are summarised in .
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This chapter provides an overview of the employment and skills system in Turkey. The chapter also provides a description of the main government department actors at the national level in Turkey. Following the global financial crisis, Turkey’s economy has shown favourable signs of robustness but a number of significant labour market challenges may hold back its growth potential. These include strong disparities across regions on education and employment outcomes as well as gender gaps in wages and labour force participation.
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To better understand the role of the local level in contributing to quality job creation, this study examines local activities in two provinces of Turkey: 1) Kocaeli; and 2) Trabzon. This chapter provides a labour market and economic overview of the provinces and their broader economic region. It also presents data and information on the supply and demand of skills at the sub-national level in Turkey
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This chapter highlights findings from the local job creation dashboard, which is a policy assessment tool developed by the OECD that was applied in Trabzon and Kocaeli. The findings are discussed through the four thematic areas of the study: 1) better aligning policies and programmes to local employment development; 2) adding value through skills; 3) targeting policy to local employment sectors and investing in quality jobs; and 4) being inclusive.
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Stimulating job creation at the local level requires integrated actions across employment, training and economic development portfolios. This requires policies which can be catered to the local level, up-to-date and accurate data, and integrated partnerships that leverage the efforts of stakeholders. This chapter outlines the key recommendations emerging from the review of local job creation policies in Turkey, looking at local employment and economic development strategies in Kocaeli and Trabzon.