In October, the unemployment rate in Turkey was realized as 12.7% compared to the same month last year’s 13.4%, with a decrease of 0.7 points. When compared to the previous month, it is observed that the unadjusted unemployment rate did not change. Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was announced as 12.9% with a decrease of 0.6 compared to the same month of the previous year and an increase of 0.1 compared to the previous month. While the youth unemployment rate was 24.8% according to the refined data; Non-farm unemployment stood at 14.9%.
When we look at the comparable periods, October 2019 - October 2020, it is seen that there is a 3.1 point decrease in the labor force participation rate between the relevant periods with adjusted data. The workforce, which was 32 million 521 thousand people in the similar period of 2019, reached 31 million 204 thousand people in October 2020. The labor force participation rate has decreased from 52.7% to 49.6%. Looking at the seasonally adjusted data; While the employment rate decreased by 2.3 points compared to the same period of the previous year and became 43.2%, there was a thousand people increase in seasonally adjusted employment compared to the previous month. In this period, seasonally adjusted employment increased by 6 thousand people in the agricultural sector, 67 thousand in the industrial sector, while the construction sector decreased by 2 thousand people and the service sector by 70 thousand, according to economic activity.
The dynamics we mentioned in previous months continue to affect the unemployment data. Partial openings have provided a certain degree of stability in employment since 3Q20, while pandemic factors that adversely affect participation rate and employment rate in the labor market dynamics have remained valid. In this period; The continuation of measures such as dismissal ban, unpaid leave support and short-time work allowance prevented the numerical increase in the unemployment rate. Especially in the period after December, the restriction measures brought by increasing Covid cases will cause a significant loss of employment in the service sector. Short-term dynamics in the employment market will depend on the impact of the pandemic and vaccination on economic activity; while the long-term dynamics will depend on the medium-long-term trust and investment climate.
