President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shared with the public the new practices that will be implemented to ensure earlier and stronger participation of young people in employment. This program, called the Youth Production Age (POWER), includes comprehensive regulations covering both young people and employers.
In the statement made at the Presidential Complex, active workforce It was announced that businesses benefiting from the support will be obliged to employ interns. Accordingly, workplaces benefiting from these supports will be obliged to employ interns at least 10 percent of their number of employees.
What does the POWER Program cover?
The prominent topics within the framework of the program are listed as follows:
Starting practical training programs for young people who are not in education or employment
Inclusion of vocational high school and vocational school students in the İŞKUR database
State support for wages and insurance premiums of young people doing internships
In cooperation with the private sector, the salaries of young people between the ages of 18 and 25 will be covered by the state for the first 6 months after they start working.
Giving 1,375 TL daily pocket money to young people who participate in some programs.
Hiring interns becomes mandatory
President Erdogan, He stated that the main goal of the POWER Program is to enable young people to meet the business world while their education process continues. He emphasized that this will make the transition to employment easier after graduation.
In this context, the National Internship Program was incorporated into İŞKUR and combined with the existing internship system. In addition, it will be mandatory to employ interns in public and private sector enterprises with more than 10 employees.
27 billion lira budget for internships and incentives
Erdoğan stated that the wage and premium burdens of young people doing internships will continue to be covered by the state, and announced that a total of 27 billion lira has been allocated for the next three years. In this process, it is aimed for 800 thousand more young people to benefit from internship opportunities in addition to the existing capacity.
It was announced that internship applications will begin to be received through İŞKUR as of January 6.
Vocational high school students will be “wanted personnel”
Drawing attention to the importance of vocational high schools and vocational schools, Erdoğan said that the expression “intermediate personnel” has now been replaced by the definition of “sought-after personnel”.
With the application “My Future is in the Profession”; In cooperation with YÖK, the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the information of technical high school and vocational school senior students will be transferred to the İŞKUR system. Every year, approximately 250 thousand students will be matched one-on-one with job and career counselors.
Daily allowance increased to 1,375 lira
It was announced that, within the scope of the İŞKUR Youth Program launched in 2025, the number of students working 1 to 3 days a week has reached 150 thousand. Erdogan stated that the daily pocket money was increased from 1,083 TL to 1,375 TL, and that the monthly income of a young person working three days a week increased from 15 thousand lira to 19 thousand lira.
6 months salary and bonus support with First Step Program
Within the scope of the First Step Program carried out with the private sector, the salaries and all insurance premiums of young people between the ages of 18 and 25 for the first 6 months after starting work will be covered by the state. Moreover, employers will not be required to guarantee employment.
Targeting young people outside education and employment
Although President Erdoğan argues that there is a decrease in the proportion of young people who are neither in education nor in employment, according to TEDMEM’s 2025 report, one in every three young people in Türkiye is still in this group.
The Workforce Adaptation Program, developed against this backdrop, aims to enable young people to gain new skills and gain practical experience in different fields. Each young person participating in the program will be paid 1,375 TL per day, and work accident, occupational disease and general health insurance premiums will be covered by İŞKUR.
With this program, which allocated a total of 108 billion lira, it is aimed to include 150 thousand young people in the education and production process every year.
