Turkish unemployment rises

ISTANBUL, Nov 16, (RTRS): Turkey’s unemployment rate rose to 14.0% in the July-Sept period from 13.9% a month earlier, official data showed on Friday, with youth unemployment hitting a record high of 27.4% as a recession continued to hit workers.

A currency crisis last year depressed economic activity and weakened the jobs market, although the latest industrial production data has pointed to a recovery in economic activity.

The unemployment rate rose from 13.9% a month earlier and 11.1% in the same period last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute data showed. Youth unemployment rose to a record high of 27.4% from 20.8% a year earlier.

Last year’s currency crisis, when the lira lost nearly 30% of its value against the dollar, sent unemployment to a near-decade high of 14.7% in the first quarter.

According to Turkey’s latest threeyear economic programme, unemployment is seen at 12.9% by year end and down to 11.8% by the end of 2020.

Turkey’s economy shrunk 1.5% in the second quarter after a 2.4% drop in the first. Demand has started to pick up as inflation has fallen and as the central bank slashed rates by 1,000 points since July.

Data on Thursday showed industrial production increased 3.4% year-on-year in September after 12 months of contraction, in a sign of an economic recovery. The non-agricultural unemployment rate rose to 16.7% from 16.5% a month earlier, the data showed. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 14.2%, after hitting a record high of 14.3% a month earlier.