The Increasing Rate of Unemployment
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has reported a rise in unemployment for the first time since June. As per the data released, the number of unemployed individuals aged 15 and over increased by 115 thousand to 3 million 116 thousand in November 2023 compared to the previous month. This increased the unemployment rate by 0.4 points, taking it to 9 percent. It is estimated that the unemployment rate is 7.5 percent for men and 11.8 percent for women. The broad unemployment rate i.e., the underemployment rate, potential labor force, and the idle labor force rate, reached 22.7 percent, a rise of 1.3 points from the previous month. In November 2023, the number of employed individuals decreased by 236 thousand, measuring at 31 million 611 thousand. This led to a decrease in the employment rate by 0.4 percentage points, reaching 48.2%. The male employment rate is at 65.4% and female at 31.3%. The labor force also decreased by 122 thousand, totaling 34 million 726 thousand people. The labor force participation rate went down by 0.2 percentage points to 52.9%. The labor force participation rate is 70.7% for men and 35.5% for women. The unemployment rate for the youth population aged 15-24 increased by 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, standing at 16.5%. Within this age group, 14.2% of males and 20.7% of females are unemployed. Lastly, the adjusted average actual weekly working hours were recorded at 43.8 hours.