Turkey's unemployment rate continues to decline, according to TurkStat

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Turkey's unemployment rate in December was 11.2 percent, dropping by 0.1 percent compared to the previous month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has announced.

The number of employed persons increased by 236,000 to 30.14 million, which means the employment rate stood at 47 percent with a 0.3 point increase. The number of unemployed rose by 2,000 to 3.79 million, according to the TurkStat figures.

The country's labor force increased by 238,000 to 33.93 million in a month as the labor force participation rate rose by 0.3 points to 52.9 percent.

Youth unemployment

The unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group dropped by 1.6 points to 20.8 percent whereas the employment rate rose by 0.6 points to 34.1 percent in December.

The labor force participation rate in this group was 43 percent, down by 0.2 points from November.

Sectors

In terms of sectors, the number of employed persons dropped by 10,000 in the agriculture sector, while it increased by 108,000 in the industrial sector and 134,000 in the service sector.

Among the employed people, 16.8 percent were employed in the agriculture sector, 27.1 percent were employed in the industrial sector and 55.4 percent were employed in the service sector.

Informal employment

The share of those working informally was 27.8 percent in December, down by 0.1 points from the same month in the previous year.

Excluding the agricultural sector, the share of informal employees was 18.3 percent, 0.5 points higher than the same month previous year. (HA/VK)