Investing in Turkey's Next Generation : The School-to-Work Transition and Turkey's Development
This report assesses the prospects for Turkey's youth by examining the 'school-to-work transition'. Turkey needs to invest in its young people to capture the potentially substantial dividend of today's large youth cohort. Becaus...
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| Language: | English en_US |
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Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/06/9810349/investing-turkeys-next-generation-school-to-work-transition-turkeys-development http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8084 |
| Summary: | This report assesses the prospects for
Turkey's youth by examining the 'school-to-work
transition'. Turkey needs to invest in its young people
to capture the potentially substantial dividend of
today's large youth cohort. Because of the sheer number
of young people, Turkey's working-age population will
expand by over 800,000 every year during the next decade.
This so-called 'productive population' will
continue to grow until around 2020 when the demographic
window starts to close. By that time, Turkey will have the
population profile of an aging society. East Asia's
economic miracle of the 1970s and 1980s demonstrated that a
large youth cohort can propel an economy to very high growth
rates. However, the experience in other regions, such as
Latin America, has shown that this outcome is by no means
guaranteed. Investments made now in today's children
and youth will be critical in determining the extent to
which Turkey benefits from this 'demographic
dividend' While the potential benefits are great, so
are the risks if today's large youth cohort does not
find its place in tomorrow's labor market and society.
The potential downside of this demographic profile is also
significant. If Turkey's young people are not well
prepared for the world of work and if the labor market does
not generate more and better jobs for them, then this large
youth cohort will be the source of social and economic
pressures and tensions. Indeed, managing the transition into
adulthood will be a very important factor in determining how
well Turkey achieves the goals of stability, equity, and
competitiveness that are at the heart of the Ninth
Development Plan. In many respects, Turkey has taken
important steps to prepare for this future. Today's
young people are more educated and healthier than previous
ones, which is a strong base to build on. Educational
achievements have been notable, especially in basic
education. Enrollments are up at all levels. Some important
steps have been taken to modernize the labor market and to
establish the foundations for employment institutions and
policies suitable for an open, private-sector led economy. |
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