Turkey: Unemployment on the rise - ING

Turkey’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has increased again this year, coming at 11.0% in July - the highest in the last 12 months, notes Muhammet Mercan, Chief Economist at ING.

Key Quotes

“Deterioration in the unemployment rate from 9.9% at the end of 2017 shows that the labour market is failing to match the growing labour force despite the rising participation rate (SA) at an all-time high at 53.2%.”

“The unadjusted unemployment rate, on the other hand, turned out to be 10.8%, higher than the 10.7% we saw in July last year, showing that annual employment has been losing momentum with tightening conditions in the labour market.”

“On a sequential basis, job creation in July turned marginally negative (-6K), driven by services (77K) and agriculture (3K) while industry (-34K) and construction (-52K) dragged.”