Evaluating the latest data, Goldman Sachs Global ECS European Research said Turkey showed a “strong” performance in its labor market. “Current unemployment levels are now below pre-crisis cyclical lows. Disposable income growth, as a result, remains robust, as implied by the 15.2 percent increase in industrial wage earnings [employment times nominal wage growth] in the first quarter of 2011. Clearly, there is little, if any, excess capacity left in the economy,” the report read.

The figures indicate that an extra 1.5 million individuals were added to the army of the employed in March over the same month of 2010, increasing the number of the employed to 23.28 million. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 622,000 persons compared to the same period of the previous year to reach 2.8 million.

The institution said the non-agricultural joblessness rate was 13.4 percent while youth unemployment stood at 19.3 percent in March 2011. Participation in the workforce was 49 percent in March of this year, 0.8 points higher than the same month of last year, TurkStat said. Nearly 16.5 percent of the workforce was between the ages of 15 and 24, while the workforce participation rate among university graduates was 85.4 percent for men and 72 percent for women.

TurkStat said the number of agricultural workers grew by 589,000, as the number of non-agricultural workers rose by 956,000 in March 2011. In this month, 24.8 percent of those employed worked in the agricultural sector, 20.6 percent in the industrial sector, 6.2 percent in the construction sector and 48.4 percent in the services sector. Unregistered employment was 41.3 percent, marking a 0.8 point decrease over a year earlier.

When looking at gender, the participation rate of the female labor force increased by 1.1 percent from March 2010 to March 2011, and is now at 27.9 percent. Male participation in the labor force increased to 71 percent with a 0.7 percent rise in the same period. Non-agricultural employment increased by 956,000 in March over the same period of the preceding year, indicating an invigoration in industrial activity. Turkey’s industrial production index in February increased by 13.9 percent compared to the same month of the year before.

Of those who were employed in March 2011, 24.8 percent were employed in agriculture, 20.6 percent were employed in industry, 6.2 percent were employed in construction and 48.4 percent were employed in the services industry. Employment in agriculture increased by 0.9 percentage points, in industry by 0.8 percentage points and in construction by 0.4 percentage points while that of services decreased by 2.1 percentage points.

Individuals whose social security premiums were not paid by their employers -- and who were hence deprived of social security benefits -- declined to 41.3 percent with a 0.8 percent decrease in March over the same month of 2010. The share of persons who had no social security coverage in agriculture decreased from 85.1 percent to 82.6 percent and that in non-agriculture from 28.5 percent to 27.7 percent in the same period.

As regards labor movements in the period mentioned, 1.8 million persons either started to work or changed their current job in March 2011, accounting for the 7.8 percent of total employment.