BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH SDG 8

Türkiye stands as one of the fastest-growing economies among OECD countries and as a major economic hub connecting Europe and Asia. As such, Türkiye plays an important role in the achievement of SDG 8, and the country recently renewed its commitment towards its implementation by incorporating many of SDG 8’s objectives into its own national development strategy, outlined in Türkiye’s 12th Development Plan for 2024-2028 (Presidency of Strategy and Budget, 2023). Despite Türkiye’s remarkable economic growth over the last two decades, significant structural weaknesses persist, hindering Türkiye’s capacity to address future long-term challenges. High female and youth unemployment, skills mismatches in the labour market, weak productivity growth, and persistent informal employment are all important challenges that need to be addressed over the coming years to ensure SDG 8’s timely implementation (Government of Türkiye, 2019, p. 87; World Bank, 2024, pp. 2-5).

current challenges and recent developments

Türkiye has achieved remarkable progress in the area of economic growth over the past two decades. Following the financial crisis that hit the country in 2001, Türkiye managed to successfully implement various institutional reforms that have promoted steady economic growth and have fostered macroeconomic stability, bringing Türkiye’s GDP growth to a commendable annual average rate of 5.4% between 2002 and 2023 (World Bank, 2024, p. 2). Yet, despite Türkiye’s impressive economic development of the last 20 years, the country has failed to fully address several structural weaknesses underlying its economic environment, particularly in the area of decent work. 

Firstly, the fast-growing Turkish economy has been unable to fully absorb the rising working-age population, precluding the opportunity of finding decent employment for many Turkish men and women (World Bank, 2024, p. 2). The unemployment rate has remained consistently high throughout the last two decades, reaching 8.71% in 2022, whereas no progress has been achieved in reducing the proportion of youth not in education, employment or training, which has consistently remained above 20% over the last ten years (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, n.d.). Moreover, women continue to suffer from systemic discrimination within the Turkish labour market, as a disproportionate amount of unpaid care and domestic responsibilities is still carried out by women, acting as a major barrier to their market participation (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2025, p. 12).

Secondly, informal employment remains concerningly widespread, although progress has been made over the last two decades. The World Bank (2024) estimates that 26.5% of Turkish workers were still involved in informal employment in 2024, a share that is higher than in other countries with a similar level of economic development (p. 2). As stressed by the International Labour Organization (2015), employment within the informal economy is typically accompanied by precarious working conditions, unregulated working arrangements, and a complete lack of social and legal protection that leave most informal economy workers in an extremely vulnerable position.

Thirdly, and related to Türkiye’s employment issues, considerable skills mismatches plague the Turkish labour market, as a significant share of Turkish workers is either overeducated or undereducated for their jobs compared with European countries (World Bank, 2024, p. 3). Türkiye’s economy remains specialised in medium-technology sectors that are mostly driven by small firms lacking the means to innovate or to absorb highly skilled individuals, which hampers productivity growth as well (OECD, 2025, p. 14; World Bank, 2024, pp. 3-4).

However, the Turkish government has not remained idle in the face of these challenges, and several national programmes have been launched over the years with the aim of addressing the structural weaknesses of the labour market. These include the Enhancing Productivity in Manufacturing Programme, the National Youth Employment Action Plan, and the Labour Market Efficiency Programme, among several others (Government of Türkiye, 2019, p. 82).

list of references and useful links

Government of Türkiye. (2019). Turkey’s Sustainable Development Goals: 2nd VNR 2019 - Strong Ground towards Common Goals. United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. https://hlpf.un.org/sites/default/files/vnrs/2021/23862Turkey_VNR_110719.pdf

International Labour Organization. (2015, March 23). Informal economy: a hazardous activity. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from https://www.ilo.org/resource/other/informal-economy-hazardous-activity

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2025). OECD Economic Surveys: Türkiye 2025. https://doi.org/10.1787/d01c660f-en

Presidency of Strategy and Budget. (2023). Twelfth Development Plan (2024-2028). Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye. https://www.sbb.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Twelfth-Development-Plan_2024-2028.pdf

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (n.d.). Country Profile: Türkiye. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from  https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/dataportal/countryprofiles/tur

World Bank. (2024). Türkiye Country Economic Memorandum: Jobs for Prosperity (Report No. 204598). https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099091725075068918/pdf/P178168-351da53b-4a63-42dd-9d0f-e667daea1b02.pdf