ANKARA, TURKEY
Turkey Statistical Institute (TSI), announced the unemployment figures for August. According to Turkstat, in August 2019, the number of unemployed persons rose by 980 thousand compared to the same period of the previous year becaming 4 million 650 thousand. The unemployment rate increased by 2.9 percentage points to 14.0 percent.
EMPLOYMENT DECREASES, UNEMPLOYMENT GROWS
The number of employed persons decreased by 789 thousand persons in August 2019 compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 28 million 529 thousand persons. The employment rate decreased by 2 points to 46.3 percent.
In this period, the number of employees in the agricultural sector decreased by 94 thousand and the number of non-agricultural workers decreased by 695 thousand.
The number of unemployed above the age of 15 in Turkey increased by 980 thousand persons compared to the same period last year, during August 2019 was 4 million 650 thousand people.
The unemployment rate increased by 2.9 percentage points to 14.0 percent. In the same period; The non-agricultural unemployment rate was estimated to be 16.7 percent with an increase of 3.5 percentage points. The unemployment rate in the young population (15-24 years) was 27.4 percent with an increase of 6.6 points, while this rate was realized as 14.3 percent with an increase of 2.9 points in the 15-64 age group.
UNDISCLOSED WORK
Again in August 2019, the rate of employees without any social security increased by 2.1 points compared to the same period of the previous year and became 36.1 percent. The share of informal workers in the non-agricultural sector increased by 1.3 points compared to the same period of the previous year and became 23.4 percent.
The number of people employed decreased by 49 thousand in the industrial sector, 24 thousand in the construction sector and 3 thousand in the agricultural sector.
TURKSTAT’S DATA IS UNRELIABLE
The data of TURKSTAT, a state institution, is not reliable due to the political environment of Turkey. Trade unions, independent surveys, and unemployment rates are said to be much higher than that which is being disclosed by the institution.
TURKSTAT, which is said to have announced data according to government directives, has difficulty in concealing the economic collapse in the country.
