Figure rises 0.7 percentage points from previous month, says TurkStat
Unemployment in Turkey was 13.4% in February, up 0.7 percentage points from the previous month, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) released on Monday.
The number of unemployed people aged 15 and over increased by 250,000 to 4.2 million in February compared to January, TurkStat said in a statement.
As of January, the body made changes to its household workforce survey in line with International Labor Organization (ILO) and EU norms.
Under the changes, the labor force statistics shifted from three-month moving averages to independent monthly estimates.
The employment rate also slightly diminished 0.1 percentage points month-on-month to 43.4%, or 27.5 million people.
Labor force participation reached 50.1% this February, up 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous month.
Over 31.7 million people are taking part in the country’s labor force, with a rise of 226,000 in February compared to the previous month, added TurkStat.
The youth unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group was 26.9% in February, posting a 0.4 percentage point rise month-on-month.
“The labour force participation rate in this age group realized as 38.5% with 0.1 percentage points decrease compared to the previous month,” the reading showed.
According to the distribution of employment by sector, 55.8% was is services, followed by industry with 20.8%, agriculture with 17.4% and construction with 6%.
The report said the number of women participating in the workforce had risen 0.4 percentage points from the previous month to 31.6%.
Meanwhile, in February the rate of unregistered employment, which indicates the share of employment not affiliated with the country’s Social Security Institution in total employment, realized at 27.4% with a 2.8 percentage point decrease compared to the same month of the previous year.
The rate of unregistered employment in the non-agricultural sector was 16.7% in the month.