Unemployment has risen by only 59 thousand people in a month, says TurkStat

Photo: Gökhan Zobar / AA

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the state agency assigned with producing official statistics on Turkey, released its "Labor Force Statistics" for March 2021 earlier today (May 10).

According to the TurkStat, the number of unemployed persons aged 15 years old and over increased by 59 thousand to 4 million 236 thousand persons in March compared to the previous month. The unemployment rate was 13.1 percent with 0.1 percentage point decrease.

The number of employed persons increased by 550 thousand to 28 million 89 thousand persons in the period of March 2021 compared to the previous month. The employment rate occurred as 44.3 percent with 0.8 percentage point increase, say the TurkStat figures.

Other highlights from the statistics are as follows:

Youth unemployment: 25 percent

According to the TurkStat, the number of persons in the labor force stood at 32 million 325 thousand persons with 610 thousand persons increase in March 2021 compared to the previous month. Labor force participation rate was 51 percent with 0.9 percentage point increase.

The youth unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group was 25 percent with 0.7 percentage point decrease compared to the previous month and the employment rate was 31.4 percent with 1.4 percentage point increase. The labor force participation rate in this age group was 41.9 percent with 1.5 percentage points increase compared to the previous month.

54.3 percent employed in services sector

The TurkStat figures have shown that in March 2021, the number of agricultural employment increased by 15 thousand persons, industry increased by 480 thousand persons and construction increased by 81 thousand persons while services decreased by 27 thousand persons.

According to the distribution of employment by sector; 17.3 percent was employed in agriculture, 22.0 percent was employed in industry, 6.4 percent was employed in construction and 54.3 percent was employed in services.

Composite measure of labor underutilization

In March 2021, the rate of composite measure of labor underutilization consisting of time-related underemployment, potential labor force and unemployment was 25.8 percent with 2.3 percentage point decrease compared to the previous month. While combined rate of time-related underemployment and unemployment realized as 18.2 percent, combined rate of unemployment and potential labor force realized as 21.2 percent.

Non-seasonally adjusted unemployment

Non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 13.1 percent with 0.1 point increase compared to the same month of the previous year. The number of unemployed persons increased by 288 thousand to 4 million 193 thousand persons compared to the same month of the previous year.

Non-seasonally adjusted employment rate realized as 44.0 percent with 2.1 percentage point increase compared to the same month of the previous year. The number of employed persons is estimated as 27 million 907 thousand persons with 1 million 845 thousand persons increase compared to the same month of the previous year.

Non-seasonally adjusted labor force participation rate was 50.6 percent with a 2.4 percentage point increase compared to the same month of the previous year. The number of labor force is estimated as 32 million 100 thousand persons with 2 million 133 thousand persons increase compared to the same month of the previous year.

Unregistered employment on the increase

In March 2021, the rate of unregistered employment, which indicates the share of employment who are not affiliated with social security institution in total employment, realized as 28.9 percent with 0.4 percentage point increase compared to the same month of the previous year.

The rate of unregistered employment in the non-agricultural sector realized as 17.8 percent with 1.2 percentage point decrease compared to the same month of the previous year. (HA/SD)