Young Kazakhstanis Are Moving Into Trade and Working Overtime

Young people in Kazakhstan continue to lose ground in the labor market. Most young specialists work in trade rather than in their field, and nearly half a million are working overtime, Orda.kz reports, citing Finprom analysts.

In 2025, 643,000 young Kazakhstanis worked in trade. That was more than in any other sector. Education ranked second with 458,800, followed by agriculture with 336,900. At the same time, only 102,400 young people were employed in IT and communications, and even fewer in the financial sector, at 96,500.

In 2025, more than half of employed young Kazakhstanis had higher education, while about 1.6 million more had technical and vocational education. However, most of them worked in trade, while employment in high-tech and financial sectors remained significantly lower.

According to the analysts, the position of young people in the labor market is weakening. The share of salaried employees fell to 38.9%, while the total number of employed young people stood at 3.6 million and changed little over the year. The number of employees remained at about 2.8 million, while growth in self-employment came to a halt, with the figure falling to 816,400.

There has also been increased migration to cities, where the number of employed young people rose to 2.3 million. At the same time, in rural areas it fell to 1.4 million. This increased pressure on the urban labor market.

The analysts also pointed to problems with working conditions. About 496,200 young Kazakhstanis worked more than 41 hours a week. Another 53,700 were formally listed as employed, but were temporarily without work.

Overall, the analysts describe the situation as tense. Young people continue to play a significant role in the economy, but they are more often finding jobs in trade and much less often in sectors where their knowledge and qualifications are in demand.

Original author: Daria Malkova

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