After graduating from Ecole Européenne High School in Brussels, Yusuf Işık received his Bachelor's degree in Econometrics from the London School of Economics (1971) and his Master's degree in Economic Planning from the University of Birmingham (1975). In his professional life, he worked as Training Manager at Petrol-İş Trade Union; Research Director at Economic and Social Documentation and Research Company ESDA; Specialist at State Planning Organization (SPO) and Head of Strategic Research Department in 1998-99; Lecturer at METU; Vice President of OECD Committee on Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (ELSA) in 1996; Advisor to Minister of Economy Kemal Derviş in 2002 and Advisor to MP in 2003-2005. In 2007-11, he worked again at the SPO/Ministry of Development. In 2011-2023, he worked as an advisor to then CHP President Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

His main areas of professional work and interests are: Macroeconomic policies, social development, technological development, technological development - knowledge economy and the EU. He is also particularly interested in world politics and governance in the public and private sectors. 

He has published on these topics and co-authored the book ‘Exiting the Crisis and Contemporary Social Democracy’ with Kemal Derviş and Serhan Asker.