'Increase in women's unemployment is alarming'

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Bahçeşehir University's Economic and Social Research Center (BETAM) has released a report entitled "Alarm Bells Ringing in Women's Unemployment."

According to the report based on the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and BETAM figures, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for women rose by 0.6 percentage points in two months to 14.5 percent in November.

In the same period, men's unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 9.6 percent.

The increase in the women labor force was much higher compared to employment in this period, the BETAM noted. The number of unemployed men decreased by 43,000 while the number of unemployed women increased by 80,000 compared to the previous month.

"As a result of these developments, the gender gap in unemployment rates increased by 0.9 percentage points to 4.9 percent," says the report.

The report lists the following figures:

• In addition to the increase of 281,000 in women's employment in the last two months, an increase of 74,000 was recorded in November. Despite this, the number of unemployed women increased by 80,000.
• The increase in the workforce was 156,000 compared to the previous month.
• As the increase in the women workforce was stronger than the employment rate in November, women's unemployment rate rose sharply by 0.6 percentage points to 14.5.
• In November, while men's employment increased by 153,000, the number of unemployed men decreased by 43 thousand, and men's unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 9.6 percent.
• As a result of these developments, the gender gap in unemployment rates increased by 0.9 percentage points to 4.9 percent
• Women's and men's employment rates increased by 0.1 and 0.4 percentage points, respectively, compared to the previous month. As a result of these developments, women's employment rate, which was 29.0 percent in October, rose to 29.1 percent in November.
• Women's employment rate is 1.5 percentage points above the pre-pandemic level (27.6 percent as of January 2020). It has also come very close to its 29.2 percent peak in November 2018.
• Men's employment rate, which reached its peak in November 2018, rose to 64.4 percent with a significant increase of 0.4 percentage points, because of an increase of 153,000 in this period. (AS/VK)