Artificial Intelligence and Labor Market Adjustment in Turkey: Evidence from LinkedIn Data

DISCUSSION PAPER No. 2624 | APRIL 2026 Artificial Intelligence and LaborMarket Adjustment in Türkiye: Freeha FatimaEfsan Nas ÖzenDhushyanth Raju Series Description The Social Policy and Labor Discussion Paper series presents analysis and research that informs policy dialogue andoperational practice across social protection, social development, and labor markets. Social Protection: the collection covers the full lifecycle of Social Assistance, Social Insurance, Care, and Social Labor: the collection covers Active and Passive Labor Market Programs, Training and Skills Development, YouthEmployment, Economic Inclusion, and International Labor Mobility and Migration. SocialDevelopment:the collection covers Community and Local Development,Inclusion,Cohesion,Forced Across all areas, the series highlights cross-cutting issues such as Climate Change, Fragility and Conflict, and Copyright © 2026 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW,Washington DC 20433 Telephone: +1 (202) 473 1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org.This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings,interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries,colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages dissemination ofits knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World BankPublications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: +1 (202) 522 Artificial Intelligence and Labor Market Adjustment in Türkiye:Evidence from LinkedIn Data Freeha FatimaEfşan Nas ÖzenDhushyanth RajuThis paper examines how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping Türkiye’s labor market by documenting patterns in skill supply, employer demand, and labor market adjustment using high-frequency digital labor market indicators from LinkedIn. The analysis focuses on the mechanismsthrough which AI-related change is associated with shifts in skills, hiring, occupational mobility,exposure to generative AI, and international migration. The evidence shows a relatively broadpresence of foundational digital andAI literacy skills across sectors and demographic groups,alongside a persistent and increasing concentration of advanced AI engineering talent within anarrow set of occupations and industries. Measured skill penetration follows non-monotonicpatterns over time, while frontier AI talent accumulates steadily, indicating a divergence betweenthe breadth and depth of AI capability. Entry into AI roles often follows strongly path-dependentpathways, and employer demand signals for technical and AI-adjacent capabilities are onlypartially reflected in realized hiring, with no sustained positive divergence in AI-related hiringrelative to overall labor demand. Potential exposure to generative AI varies systematically across Keywords:Artificial intelligence; labor market adjustment; skills and human capital;hiring andlabor demand; occupational mobility;talent migration; generative AI exposure; Türkiye JEL codes: J23;J24;J61;J62;O33 1.Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how work is organized, how tasks are performed, andwhich skills are valued in labor markets (Acemoglu et al. 2022; LinkedIn Economic Graph 2025c).Unlike earlier waves of automation that primarily affected routineor manual activities, recentadvances in AI—particularly generative AI—have extended into a wide range of cognitive andnonroutine tasks, including activities related to analysis, communication, and content production(Acemoglu et al. 2022; Eloundou et al. 2024). As a result, the central economic question has shiftedaway from whether technology affects employment in the aggregate toward how workers, firms,and labor markets adjust to changing task requirements and evolving skill demands. In practice,suchadjustment does not unfold automatically. It depends not only on the diffusion of foundationaldigital capabilities, but also on the distribution and concentration of advanced expertise, thestructure of hiring and mobility pathways, and the cross-border movement of highly specialized This paper provides an integrated descriptive account of how AI is reshaping Türkiye’s labormarket along these margins of adjustment. Using high-frequency labor market indicators derivedfrom LinkedIn’s Economic Graph, we document five interrelated stylized facts. First, foundationaldigital and AI literacy skills are relatively widespread across sectors and demographic groups, withmeasured skill penetration following non-monotonic patterns over time. Second, advanced AI