Contraction in industry depends, but job market improves

ANKARA

Annual decline in industrial production accelerated, but the unemployment rate fell for a second month in a row in August, separate data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Oct. 10.

Output in the key industry sector dropped by 5.3 percent year-on-year, after contracting 5 percent annually in July.

This marked the steepest decline since February 2023, when industrial output plunged 8.8 percent due to the impacts of the devastating earthquakes.

In August, industrial production fell by 1.6 percent on a monthly basis, compared to a 0.3 percent increase recorded in the previous month.

In the manufacturing sector, output plunged 5.4 percent year-on-year and 1.3 percent month-on-month, TÜİK said.

The latest PMI survey for manufacturing did not bode well for the sector’s outlook.

The Istanbul Chamber of Industry’s (İSO) headline Türkiye Manufacturing PMI dropped to 44.3 in September from 47.8 in August, the survey showed earlier this month.

Any figure greater than 50 indicates overall improvement in the sector.

Durable consumer goods production was down 1.5 percent in August from a year ago, according to TÜİK data. The annual decline in non-durable consumer goods output was 3.3 percent.

Energy production exhibited an annual increase of 1.4 percent but declined nearly 4 percent monthly.

The 10.7 percent year-on-year drop in the output of the capital goods manufacturing sector was significant.

Jobless rate down

Separate data from the statistics authority showed on Oct. 10, that the decline in the unemployment rate continued in August.

Türkiye’s jobless rate fell from 8.8 percent in July to 8.5 percent.

The number of unemployed people fell by 89,000 from a month earlier to a little more than 3 million as of August.

The unemployment rate was 7 percent for men, unchanged from July, and 11.4 percent for women, down from 12.4 percent.

There were 65.98 million people in Türkiye aged 15 and above in August, with the workforce at 35.8 million people. Some 32.78 million people in the country were employed in the month.

The labor force participation rate declined slightly from 54.4 percent in July to 54.3 percent, while the employment rate rose from 49.6 percent to 49.7 percent.

Youth unemployment, among those aged 15-24, inched up from 16.4 percent to 16.5 percent, showed TÜİK data.

In the latest medium-term program, unveiled in September, the government forecast that the unemployment rate will be 9.3 percent at the end of 2024 and that the jobless rate will climb to 9.6 percent next year before easing to 9.2 percent in 2026.