2Q21 unemployment down to 12.4 percent

TURKSTAT announced the “Seasonally adjusted employment figures for the 2Q21 period in Turkey. As the monthly employment data is subject to sharp volatility and hence the credibility of TURKSTAT is under discussion, the quarterly data appears more stasifactory.
Accordingly:
Number of unemployed people (aged 15 years old and over) decreased by 184 thousand to 3 million 989 thousand persons compared to the previous quarter.
Unemployment rate droppped to 12.4% by 0.6 percentage point decrease over 1Q21.
– The number of employed people increased by 379 thousand to 28 million 234 thousand compared to the previous quarter.
Employment rate increased to 44.4% with increase of 0.4 percentage points.
Labour force increased by 194 thousand people qoq to 32 million 222 thousand hence the labour force participation rate reached 50.7% with 0.1 percentage point increase.
Youth unemployment rate (15-24 age group) was 23.2% with 1.5 percentage point decrease compared to the previous quarter;  employment rate was 32.3% with 1.6 percentage point increase while the labour force participation rate in this age group at 42.1% posted 1.3 percentage points increase.
– The rate of composite measure of labour underutilization consisting of time-related underemployment, potential labour force and unemployment was 25.4% with 2.4 percentage point decrease compared to the previous quarter.