Unemployment Increases by 366 Thousand People in a Month

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The labor force statistics announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) for the first month of 2019 have shown that the number of unemployed people over the age of 15 has increased by 1 million 259 thousand people in comparison with the same month last year.

Accordingly, while the number of unemployed people across Turkey has been measured as 4 million and 668, the rate of unemployment has increased by 3.9 points and become 14.7 percent.

In December 2018, the unemployment rate was 13.5 percent. As for the number of the unemployed, it was 4 million and 302 thousand people.

In January 2019, the rate of unemployment in non-agricultural sectors has increased by 4.1 points and become 16.8 percent.

While the rate of youth unemployment (ages of 15-24) has been measured as 26.7 percent, indicating a 6.8 point increase, the rate of unemployment in 15-64 age group has increased by 3.9 points and become 15 percent.

Number of employed people on decrease

The number of people employed in January 2019 has decreased by 827 thousand people in comparison with January 2018 and been measured as 27 million 157 thousand people. As for the rate of employment, it has decreased by 1.9 points and fallen to 44.5 percent.

While the number of people employed in agricultural sector has decreased by 345 thousand in January 2019, the number of people employed in non-agricultural sectors has fallen by 536 thousand.

Labor force participation rate: 52.2 percent

In comparison with January 2018, labor force has increased by 387 thousand people and reached 31 million 825 thousand people.

As for the rate of participation in labor force, it has increased by 0.1 point and reached the level of 52.2 percent.

While the rate of labor force participation among men has decreased by 0.2 point and been measured as 71.1 percent in January 2019, the rate of women has increased by 0.4 point, becoming 33.6 percent.

Rate of informally working people: 33.1 percent

The rate of people working without affiliation with any social security institutions has increased by 0.6 point in comparison with last January and been measured as 33.1 percent.

The rate of people informally working in the non-agricultural sectors has also increased by 0.7 point in comparison with the same month last year and become 22.5 percent. (HA/SD)