Analyzing The Length of Unemployment Among First-Time Job Seekers in Emerging Countries: Case of Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the factors that influence the unemployment duration of individuals entering labor market for the first time and those who have experienced working life before by using the 2020 Household Labor Force Surveys (HLFS) prepared by Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT). Further, the effects of individual unique factors such as gender, age, marital status, family size and education level on unemployment duration are examined. Empirical results using the Cox Proportional Hazard Model, which is a semi-parametric version of survival analysis, show that the first time job seekers are at risk regardless of genders. Also, family size has no statistically significant impact on unemployment duration, while being married, divorced or widowed has decreasing effect. It takes longer time for women to find a job than men. Another important finding is that as the education level of individuals increases, the duration of their job search increases.

Keywords

• Cox Proportion Regression
• Labor Force Participation
• Unemployment Duration

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