Unemployment decreased in May despite a two-week lockdown, says TurkStat

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Turkey's seasonally adjusted unemployment was 13.2 percent in May, down by 0.6 percent compared to the previous month, according to the Turkish Statistical Institution (TurkStat).

The decrease in the unemployment rate came despite a "full lockdown" that was in place between April 29 and May 17.

The number of unemployed persons aged 15 years old and over decreased by 265,000 to 4.23 million, according to TurkStat.

The seasonally adjusted employment rate stood at 43.8 percent with a 0.4 percentage point decrease. The number of employed persons decreased by 216,000 to 27.84 million.

The seasonally adjusted labor force participation rate was 50.5 percent. The number of persons in the labor force was 32.08 million thousand persons with a decrease of 481,000 people. Labour force participation rate was 50.5 percent with a 0.8 percentage point decrease.

The seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate was 24.0 percent and the employment rate was 31.9 percent.

The youth unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group was 24.0 percent with a 2 percentage point decrease compared to the previous month and the employment rate was 31.9 percent with a 0.1 percentage point increase. The labor force participation rate in this age group was 41.9 percent with 1.1 percentage points decrease compared to the previous month. (HA/VK)