Industrial activity remains weak, jobless rate stable

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s industrial production declined but at a slower pace on an annual basis, while the unemployment rate remained steady in September.

Industrial output, which slumped by 5.2 percent year-on-year in August, fell by 2.4 percent in September from a year ago, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Nov. 11.

However, on a monthly basis, industrial production increased by 1.6 percent in September, after declining 1.6 percent in August.

In the manufacturing sector, the pace of annual decline in output slowed from 5.4 percent in August to 2.5 percent, while production rose by 1.8 percent month-on-month in September, comparing favorably with the 1.3 percent monthly drop in August.

In the intermediate goods sector, the annual decline in production also eased from 4.8 percent to 1.2 percent, with monthly production rising 3 percent.

Durable consumer goods production declined 1.1 percent annually but rose by 2.9 percent in September from August.

The energy output was down 2.2 percent annually and 6.2 percent monthly, according to the data.

The capital goods manufacturing sector’s production dropped by 6.3 percent in September from a year ago but swung back to a monthly growth of 3.8 percent after a 1.7 percent decline in August.

High-tech industrial production plunged 21 percent year-on-year and fell by 3.1 percent month-on-month.

Jobless rate steady

Separate data from TÜİK showed on Nov. 11 that Türkiye's unemployment rate was stable at 8.6 percent in September.

The number of jobless people rose by 35,000 from August to 3.1 million as of September.

While the unemployment rate for men decreased by 0.3 percentage points month-on-month to 6.7 percent, it rose 0.7 points to 12.3 percent for women.

The labor force participation rate improved slightly to 54.4 percent in September from 54.2 percent in August.

The employment rate inched up by 0.1 percentage points to 49.7 percent, meaning 32.8 million people.

Youth unemployment, defined as those aged 15-24, edged up by 0.3 percentage points to 17.1 percent. The rate was 13.5 percent for males and 24 percent for females, said TÜİK.

The government forecasts 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.

According to the government’s estimates, the unemployment rate will decline to 8.8 percent in 2027.