Unemployment increased, reaching the 14 percent mark

Duvar English

The latest unemployment figures, pertaining to the month of August, were released on Nov. 15 by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜIK) indicating that unemployment increased 2.9 percent from the same month in the previous year, reaching 14 percent.

Particularly notable was the increase in youth unemployment (the 15-24 age group), which jumped up by 6.6 percent to reach an all-time high of 27.4 percent. 

Current figures show that 55.4 percent of those employed in Turkey work in the service industry, while 19.6 hold agricultural jobs, 19.5 work in the industrial sector, and 5.5 percent were employed in the construction industry. 

The official figures also indicated that 36.1 percent of those employed in Turkey were informal, unregistered workers, meaning they do not receive insurance or social security benefits. 

Meanwhile, the public sector increased its labor force in the third quarter of 2019 by 7.4 percent in comparison to the same period last year. 

Unemployment has persistently remained in double digits in Turkey in recent years, with the youth unemployment continually exceeding the overall average. The country also faces problems regarding unemployment among recent university graduates.