Industrial production rises, unemployment rate declines

ANKARA

Türkiye’s industrial production recorded an annual increase in November 2024 after contracting in the previous five months, while the country’s unemployment rate declined by 0.1 points.

Industrial production rose by 1.5 percent from November 2023, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Jan. 10.

Between January and October last year, the country’s industrial output fell on an annual basis, with the declines reaching as much as 5 percent in June and 5.2 percent in August.

On the other hand, industrial production, which fell 0.9 percent month-on-month in October, registered a monthly increase of 2.9 percent in November.

In the key manufacturing industry, production rose by 1.2 percent year-on-year in November last year, while it saw a 3 percent increase after a 1 percent contraction in the previous month.

A recent survey offered better prospects for the manufacturing sector.

The headline manufacturing PMI rose to 49.1 last month from 48.3 in November, data provider S&P Global revealed last week.

The Turkish manufacturing sector neared stabilization in December as rates of moderation in output, new orders, purchasing and inventories all softened over the course of the month, the PMI survey said.

Intermediate goods production rose by 0.5 percent annually and 1 percent monthly, TÜİK data showed.

In the energy sector, output increased 7.8 percent from a year ago, while rising 5.6 percent month-on-month in November.

There was a noticeable 8.4 percent month-month increase in the production of the capital goods manufacturing sector.

 Unemployment falls

Separate data from TÜİK showed on Jan. 10 that the country’s unemployment rate declined from 8.7 percent in October to 8.6 percent in November 2024.

The number of unemployed people fell by 84,000 monthly to 3 million.

The country’s labor force was down by 252,000 from October to November to 35.8 million.

The labor force participation rate declined from 54.6 percent to 54.2 percent with the employment rate standing at 49.6 percent.

Among the 15-24 age group, the youth unemployment rate decreased by 0.5 percentage points from the previous month to 15.8 percent, TÜİK said.

The youth unemployment was 11.9 percent for men and 23 percent for women.