TurkStat: Unemployment Increases by 1 Million 21 Thousand People in a Year

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The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced the workforce statistics for May 2019 today (August 15).

According to these statistics, the number of unemployed people aged 15 years old and over increased to 4 million 157 thousand people in the period of May 2019 compared with last May, marking an increase of 1 million 21 thousand people. As for the unemployment rate, it was measured as 12.8 percent, marking a 3.1-point increase.

In the same period, non-agricultural unemployment rate occurred as 15 percent with 3.4 percentage point increase. While youth unemployment rate including the ones aged 15-24 was 23.3 percent with a 5.5 percentage point increase, the unemployment rate for those aged 15-64 occurred as 13.1 percent, marking a 3.2-percentage point increase.

Employment rate in May: 46.1 percent

The TurkStat has also announced the employment figures for May 2019. Accordingly, the number of the employed decreased by 869 thousand to 28 million 269 thousand people in the fifth month of 2019 compared with last May. When expressed in percentages, the employment rate occurred as 46.1 percent in May, marking a 2-percentage point decrease.

As for the number of agricultural employment, it decreased by 307 thousand people and the number of non-agricultural employment decreased by 562 thousand people in this period.

According to the distribution of employment by sector; 18.3 percent was employed in agriculture, 19.6 percent was in industry, 5.5 percent was in construction and 56.6 percent was in services.

Employment in agriculture decreased by 0.5 percentage point and construction decreased by 1.7 percentage point while industry increased by 0.1 percentage point and services increased by 2 percentage point compared with the same period of the previous year.

Labour force participation rate: 52.9 percent

The number of people in the labour force was measured as 32 million 426 thousand people with a 152 thousand people increase in the period of May 2019 compared with the same period of the previous year.

Labour force participation rate was 52.9 percent with a 0.4-point decrease. While this rate for men was 71.7 percent with a 0.9 point decrease, the rate for women was 34.4 percent without any change compared with last May. (HA/SD)