Turkey’s unemployment rate continued its downward trend in the June period, with the average May-June-July rate falling by 1.3 percentage points to 9.2 percent, compared to the same period’s average rate last year, according to figures published by TurkStat – Turkey’s statistics agency, on Thursday.
Although this is the lowest level of unemployment rate since May 2008, seasonally adjusted data do not support the decrease in the rate. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at a rate of 10.3 percent.
“The fall in unemployment rate figures continues, but when we look at the seasonally adjusted data we cannot say labor markets are recovering,” Başar Yıldırım, an economist at TSKB Real Estate Appraisal, said in a note to investors, according to a Reuters’ report on Thursday.
The number of unemployed people in Turkey fell to 2.54 million in June from the 2.75 million it was in the same month last year, whereas the number of employed reached 24.9 million in June from the 23.49 million it was in the same month last year.
The decrease in the unemployment rate on a monthly basis was 0.2 percent, the data showed.
Non-agriculture unemployment fell 1.5 points to below 12 percent, and youth unemployment also fell by 1.1 percentage points to 18 percent for the same period, compared to 19.1 percent last year. However, the seasonally adjusted data showed youth unemployment increased by 0.5 percent.
Official figures showed a more moderate perspective of the unemployment rate for the June period in 2011, compared to the same period last year, but such a perspective is not going to last, according to Banu Kıvcı Tokalı of Destek Securities. “The unemployment rate will increase in the coming months due to seasonal factors. What is more important, we notice slimming signals in employment figures in the industry sector, which is determinant for economic activity,” Tokalı said.
The rate of annual increase in employment is also somehow slowing, according to Tokalı.
The service sector has made the largest contribution to employment, Turkstat figures show. However, Tokalı said employment in this sector would tumble in case of a slowdown in employment in the industry sector.
The unemployment rate was 11.6 percent for urban areas and 4.9 percent for rural areas, according to TurkStat data.
In June, 26.5 percent of employed people were from the agriculture sector, 18.9 percent from industry, 7.5 percent from construction and 47.2 percent from the services sectors. The figure has remained stable for agriculture sector’s share in employment compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, industry’s share in employment has fallen by 0.4 percentage points from 19.3 percent it used to be last year. June 2010 figures for the share in employment for construction and service sectors were 6.7 and 47.4, respectively.
Employment strategy
The Turkish government aims to decrease unemployment rates through a National Employment Strategy, whose preparation works are still ongoing. The strategy will be based in four main policy axes: strengthening the education-employment relationship, making labor markets flexible, increasing employment of women, youth and disadvantaged groups as well as strengthening the link between employment and social protection, Turkish Labor Minister Faruk Çelik told the Anatolia news agency in an interview published Thursday.
“Actually, I think a large proportion of Turkey’s labor force is not sufficiently qualified. Thus, we have to implement active labor force programs to fight against unemployment,” the minister said.
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Source : hurriyetdailynews.com
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