Number of employed women falls 40,000 in Turkey

ANKARA

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The number of registered women wage-earners in Turkey fell by 40,000 in December 2016 compared to the same month of 2015, according to a new report prepared and released by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV). 

TEPAV’s latest workforce report stated that the fall in women employees amounted to a 1 percent drop year-on-year in the same period. 

Overall, the steepest plunge for women employees was seen in the building and landscaping sector. This sector was followed by the forestry, textile manufacturing and accommodation sectors.

Antalya saw the steepest overall decline with the loss of 8,000 employed women, under the category of 4/A social security group, in the mentioned period, followed by the southern province of Adana, Istanbul, the Black Sea province of Rize, and the Aegean province of İzmir.

According to Turkey’s labor laws, individuals who are employed by one or more employer through a service contract are registered under the 4/A group; individuals working on his/her own name and account without being bound by a service contract are registered under the 4/B group; and individuals working in public administrations are registered under the 4/C group.

The manufacturing sector saw the loss of 20,000 female workers, with textile manufacturing being the biggest loser of women employees in the manufacturing sector. 

While the number of employed women fell in 15 of the total 24 manufacturing sectors, the remaining nine sectors saw an increase, according to the report, prepared using data from the Social Security Institution (SGK). 

The number of all registered wage earners fell to 13.8 million in December 2016, a 1.6 percent decline compared to the same period of 2015. 

The steepest decline was in the agricultural sector in overall employment, with the number of people employed in this sector decreasing by 10 percent in the mentioned period compared to the same period of 2015. The number of tradesmen saw a 2.6 percent decline, according to the report, while the number of public servants also decreased 1.7 percent. 

The highest increase in overall employment was in education sector. Overall, the number of workers in Turkey’s educational sector saw an increase by 63,000 in December 2016 compared to the same month of 2015. 

Meanwhile, Turkey’s unemployment rate hit 12.7 percent in December 2016, the highest rate since March 2010. Youth unemployment stood at 24 percent, official data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed on March 15. 

The unemployment rate saw a rise of 1.9 percent compared to same month in the previous year, according to TÜİK. 

Unemployment also saw a 0.6-point increase from the previous month, with an eighth consecutive rise since last August.      

The number of all people employed was 26.67 million in the December period, which covered November, December and January, up by 221 from a year earlier, data showed.