Experts predict it will fall even further with the coming of the summer months, during which seasonal work offers relief, albeit temporary, to at least a portion of those without a job.
The data released by TurkStat showed the unemployment rate standing at 9 percent in the fourth month of the year, against 9.9 percent in March. The April figure represents an improvement to the national economy commensurate with the same month a year earlier, when the jobless rate was again 9.9 percent. “I expect a record low rate in May,” Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan stated following the institute's announcement. The 9 percent unemployment rate is just a hair's breadth from the five-year low of 8.8 percent observed in September of last year.
Agreeing with the minister, T-Bank chief economist Veyis Fertekligil declared in a written statement, “From now on, through the summer season, the fall [in the unemployment rate] is likely to continue.” He added: “We can see a rate below 9 percent for a few more months, yet it will increase again during the months of fall and spring. We will then see double-digit figures.”
For Durmuş Dündar of İstanbul Kültür University, the decline in unemployment rates is a sign that the Turkish economy is maintaining its positive outlook despite the world's ongoing financial troubles, particularly in Europe, the country's main trading partner. At the height of the global financial crisis in 2009, the unemployment rate in Turkey exceeded the 15 percent mark, sending shockwaves across the country. Yet, in parallel to a speedy recovery and resumption of solid economic growth, it was brought back to below 10 percent.
According to TurkStat, youth unemployment was down to 16.7 percent in the first fourth months of the year, from 17.9 percent in the same month last year. Likewise, non-agricultural unemployment, a key indicator of how the economy is actually faring, had notably declined. It was observed at 11.1 percent in April, down from 12.5 percent a year earlier.
In April, TurkStat data suggest, Turkey's +15 population was 54.5 million people, up from 53.3 million people in the same month last year. Its labor force consisted of 27 million people -- against 26.5 million a year ago -- and 2.4 million of those people were without a job in the fourth month of the year.
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Source : todayszaman.com
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