Four out of ten young workers are unregistered
There are 1.665 million young people aged 15-19 in employment in the country. Forty per cent of children and young people in employment are unregistered.
The deaths of three young women under the age of 18, who had been turned into unregistered, insecure, cheap labour, in a fire at the Ravive Kozmetik perfume filling plant in the Dilovası district of Kocaeli, mirrored the reality of child labour in Turkey.
The fact that four of the six workers who lost their lives in the fire were underage (Nisanur Taşdemir was 15, Tuğba Taşdemir was 17 and Cansu Esatoğlu was 15) drew attention not only to child labour but also to the issue of unregistered employment.
The Turkish Statistical Institute's (TÜİK) household labour force statistics reveal the position of young people aged 15-19 in the labour force. According to TÜİK's labour force statistics for the second quarter of the year, 1,665,000 young people aged 15-19 are employed, while 281,000 are seeking work. Of these young people, 674,000 are employed informally.
While the rate of informal employment within total employment is 25.9 per cent, it was determined that 40 per cent of young people aged 15-19 in employment are working informally.
Considering that informal employment across the country is around 8,464,000, 8 out of every 100 informally employed individuals are in the 15-19 age group.
878,000 IN THE SERVICE SECTOR
In 2021, the number of workers employed in the service sector, where 454,000 people aged 15-19 were employed, doubled in five years. In this age group, 878,000 work in the service sector, 380,000 in the industrial sector, 258,000 in the agricultural sector, and 149 in the construction sector, according to economic activity. Of these young people in employment, 470,000 are high school graduates, while 12,000 are literate but have not graduated from any school.
THEY JOINED THE İŞKUR QUEUE AT A YOUNG AGE
Meanwhile, the number of people in this age group registered with İŞKUR, one of the most common job search channels, is also noteworthy. 116,000 people aged 15-19 are looking for work through İŞKUR, and 107,000 people in this age group were placed in jobs through İŞKUR between January and October.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled 10 genç işçiden dördü kayıtdışı, published in BirGün newspaper on November 11, 2025.
