Unemployment rate hits record high in Turkey for the first time in nine years

A staggering one million is the new figure that Turkey’s unemployment rose by in the period of December 2018.

According to official data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, the unemployment rate in Turkey now stands at 13.5 percent.

“The number of unemployed persons aged 15 years old and over increased by 1 million 11 000 to 4 million 302 000 persons in the period of December 2018 in Turkey compared with the same period of the previous year,” the report read.

Turkey’s labor force managed a minor increase in 2018. “The number of persons in the labor force realized 31 million 957 000 persons with 378 000 persons increasing in the period of December 2018 compared with the same period of the previous year,” stated the report.

The country’s Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) sat at 71.7% for males and 33.6% for females.
“The unemployment rate occurred as 13.5 percent with a 3.1 percentage point increase. In the same period, non-agricultural unemployment rate occurred as 15.6 percent with a 3.3 percentage point increase,” said the report.

“While the youth unemployment rate including persons aged 15-24 was 24.5% with 5.3 percentage point increase, the unemployment rate for persons aged 15-64 occurred as 13.7% with 3.1 percentage point increases.”

Previously, both Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, also the country’s Finance Minister, had promised the country had now moved past its worst economic troubles.
In February, the government and Union of Chambers & Commodity Exchanges began efforts towards increasing employment, promising jobs for 2.5 million people.

Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk, Turkey’s minister of family, labor and social services, promised the government would pay the salaries, taxes, and premiums of all new employees for the first 3 months and would then continue to pay the individual’s taxes and premiums for the following 9 months.

Albayrak also mentioned the government had made available a 20 billion Turkish Lira loan with contribution from 13 banks to help SMEs. He said: “67,438 SMEs have taken out loans worth 20.3 billion Liras which helped those companies meet their liquidity needs.”

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from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2019/03/15/unemployment-rate-hits-record-high-in-turkey-for-the-first-time-in-nine-years/