Employment rises in industry, construction and trade

ANKARA

The headline employment index for industry, construction, and trade services sectors increased by 3.9 percent in the third quarter of 2023 from a year ago, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has said.

Employment in industry and construction grew 0.8 percent and 13.7 percent, respectively, while the increase in the trade services sectors was 4 percent.

The headline index rose 1.4 percent in the second quarter from January-March, TÜİK said on Nov. 22.

The gross wages-salaries index for the industry, construction and trade services sectors rose by 113.7 percent in July-September compared with the same quarter of the previous year. The annual increases were 108 percent and 142 percent for the industry and construction sectors, respectively. Wages and salaries in the trade services sector rose by 114 percent, according to TÜİK data.

TÜİK also reported the hourly labor cost index for those sectors increased by 105.3 percent year-on-year, with labor costs rising nearly 107 percent in industry and 113 percent in construction.

The annual increase in trade services was 105.1 percent, while the hourly labor cost – excluding earnings - exhibited a year-on-year increase of 128 percent.

The unemployment rate declined from 9.2 percent in August to 9.1 percent in September.

There were 3.2 million unemployed in Türkiye in September, while the labor participation rate was 53.2 percent, dropping slightly from 53.4 in August.