Underutilisation of Labour: Underemployment and Skills-Mismatch in Turkey

Abstract

This paper aims to reveal the extent and characteristics of under and inadequate forms of employment in Turkey. Our descriptive analysis using the Household Labour Force Surveys of 2014-2021 shows that despite not being unemployed, many people do not work in their full capacity or cannot enter the workforce, although they are willing to do so. In addition, the size of these groups varies due to age, sex and education level. To better understand the demographic and socioeconomic determinants of skill-related underemployment, the incidence and evolution of education-occupation mismatch are investigated using the Income and Living Conditions Survey (SILC) of 2016-2021. The results of the multinomial logit models using SILC-2021 indicate that age and education effects are similar for both sexes, but marital status, number of kids and household size have diverging effects for men and women. Moreover, the effects of household income, excluding the respondents’ income, social transfers and social security registration in the household confirm the reservation income hypothesis.