1 million 252 thousand people unemployed for at least a year

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the state agency responsible for producing official statistics on Turkey, released the "Labor Force Statistics" for the first quarter of 2021 today (May 18).

According to the report covering the period of January-February-March 2021, the number of seasonally adjusted unemployed persons aged 15 years old and over increased by 142 thousand to 4 million 118 thousand in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter.

The TurkStat has indicated that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 12.9 percent with 0.1 percentage point increase.

The number of seasonally adjusted employed persons increased by 627 thousand to 27 million 725 thousand persons in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter. Seasonally adjusted employment rate was 43.8 percent with an increase of 0.8 percentage points.

The seasonally adjusted labour force increased by 767 thousand persons to 31 million 842 thousand in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter and the seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate was 50.3 percent with 1.0 percentage point increase.

Youth unemployment: 25.3 percent

Seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group was 25.3 percent with 0.2 percentage point increase in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter and seasonally adjusted employment rate was 30.6 percent with 0.9 percentage point increase.

Seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate in this age group stood at 41.0 percent with 1.3 percentage points increase.

In the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, the number of seasonally adjusted agricultural employment increased by 39 thousand, industry increased by 251 thousand, construction increased by 97 thousand and services increased by 240 thousand persons.

According to the distribution of employment by sector; 17.5 percent was employed in agriculture, 21.3 percent was employed in industry, 6.2 percent in construction and 54.9 percent was employed in services.

Average actual working hours: 42.7 hours

Seasonally and calendar adjusted number of employed increased by 1 million 451 thousand persons and reached 26 million 482 thousand persons in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter.

The weekly average actual working hours of those at work decreased by 1.2 hours compared to the previous quarter and became 42.7 hours, while the total weekly hours worked increased by 32 million 699 thousand hours and reached 1 billion 131 million 864 thousand hours.

Labour underutilization: 27.8 percent

According to the TurkStat, the rate of composite measure of labour underutilization consisting of time-related underemployment, potential labour force and unemployment was 27.8 percent with 1.0 percentage point increase in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter.

While the combined rate of time-related underemployment and unemployment stood at 19.3 percent, combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force realized as 22.1 percent, according to TurkStat.

The rate of unregistered employment

In the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, the rate of unregistered employment, which indicates the share of those who are not affiliated with social security institution in total employment, was 28.1 percent with a 2.0 percentage point decrease. The rate of unregistered employment in the non-agricultural sector was 17.1 percent with a 3.3 percentage point decrease compared to the previous quarter.

24.7 percent in neither education nor employment

The proportion of the young population in the 15-24 age group who were neither in education nor in employment, was 24.7 percent in the first quarter of 2021. The number of young people, neither in education nor in employment, was 2 million 922 thousand persons.

29.3 percent are long-term unemployed

The number of unemployed persons (long-term unemployed) for a year or more reached 1 million 252 thousand persons in the first quarter of 2021. Long-term unemployed constituted 29.3 percent of the number of unemployed. (HA/SD)