Turkey’s unemployment rate falls to single digits in April, data shows

ANKARA

Turkey’s unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in April, dropping 0.9 percentage points year-on-year, the country’s statistical authority announced on July 16.

The unemployment rate was 10.1 percent in March.

Thus, the country’s unemployment rate declined to single digits again for the first time since May 2016.

Over the past five years, the highest unemployment rate was 13 percent in January 2017, while the lowest was seen in June 2013 with 8.1 percent.

Data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) also showed on July 16 that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10.3 percent in April with a 0.4 percentage point increase.

The number of unemployed persons aged 15 years and over declined by 201,000 on a yearly basis in April, amounting to 3.09 million in April, according to TÜİK data.

“In the same period, the non-agricultural unemployment rate occurred as 11.4 percent with one percentage point decrease,” the institute said.

“While the youth unemployment rate, including persons aged 15-24 was 16.9 percent with a 2.9 percentage point decrease, the unemployment rate for persons aged 15-64 occurred as 9.8 percent with a 0.9 percentage point decrease,” it added.

TÜİK also noted the number of employed people rose by 850,000 to around 29 million over the same period, taking the employment rate to 47.9 percent with a 0.7-percentage point annual increase.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, 18.3 percent was employed in agriculture, 19.5 percent was in industry, 7.4 percent was in construction and 54.8 percent was in services, TÜİK data showed.

The labor force participation rate (LFPR) was 52.2 percent, a 0.3-percentage point annual rise, while the number of people in the labor force totaled nearly 32.1 million—rising 650,000.

Official figures showed the LFPR for males was 72.4 percent with a 0.1-percentage point increase and 34 percent for females with an annual hike of 0.6-percentage point.

The TÜİK also reported that the rate of unregistered employment—people working without social security related to their principal occupation—was 33.3 percent in April, marking a 0.6-percentage point decrease year-on-year.