The unemployment price in Türkiye fell 0.3% share factors month-over-month in February, official information confirmed Monday, edging towards the bottom in a decade close to ranges touched in October final 12 months.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment price dropped to eight.7%, a four-month low, the Turkish Statistical Office (TurkStat) mentioned.
It is down from 9% in January 2024 and 10% in February 2023. Unemployment was 8.5% in October 2023, the bottom in a decade.
The variety of jobless slipped by 109,000 to three.08 million final month. According to the info, the unemployment price got here in at 7.3% for males and at 11.3% for ladies.
The variety of employed individuals surged by 147,000 to over 32.4 million, which officers say marks the best degree ever. The employment price occurred at 49.3%, with a rise of 0.2 share factors.
“While our employment exceeded 32.4 million in February, our employment rate, reaching 49.3%, continues to hover at the highest levels in our history,” mentioned Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz.
“In the upcoming period, we will continue to pursue employment-friendly policies that activate the labor potential, especially focusing on youth and women, alongside policies that sustain economic stability, and we will implement our program with determination,” Yılmaz wrote on social media platform X, previously referred to as Twitter.
After final 12 months’s presidential and parliamentary elections, Türkiye reversed years of easing coverage. It delivered aggressive tightening, primarily geared toward curbing inflation, which is hovering towards 70%, rebuilding reserves, and flipping persistent present account deficits to surpluses.
The nation’s central financial institution raised its key one-week repo price by 4,150 foundation factors from 8.5% to 50% since final June. After final month’s 500 foundation level hike that surprised the markets, the financial institution cited a deteriorating inflation outlook and pledged to tighten even additional if it expects the value scenario to worsen considerably.
Inflation is anticipated to proceed rising towards the mid-year earlier than getting into what officers count on to be a steep downward pattern within the second half of 2024.
The central financial institution final month took different steps to tighten credit score, together with motion on reserve necessities, prompting some banks to both scale back mortgage limits and even cease providing loans. It additionally raised the utmost price on bank card money withdrawals.
A tighter fiscal coverage is anticipated so as to add to the rising credit score prices.
Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan echoed Yılmaz’s view.
“Our employment figure renewed its historical peak with 32.4 million, increasing by 147,000 people in February 2024 compared to the month earlier,” Işıkhan wrote on X.
“We will continue our growth focused on investment, production, employment, and exports with determined steps.”
The information from TurkStat confirmed that the labor drive participation price remained unchanged in February at 54%, whereas a seasonally adjusted measure of labor under-utilization fell 1.9 share factors to 24.5%.
Yılmaz mentioned the unemployment price for ladies reached its lowest degree in about 10 years.
The youth unemployment price – ages 15-24 – fell to fifteen.6% in February from 16.4% in January. The price was 13.3% for males and 19.6% for ladies.
Source: www.dailysabah.com