Following the unemployment figures for December 2019 published on March 10th, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK – TurkStat) has announced the annual unemployment figures for 2019.
Turkey’s unemployment rate for 2019 was given as 13.7%, compared with 11% recorded for the previous year of 2018.
The number of unemployed persons aged 15 years and above in 2019 was given as 4,469 thousand, a 932,000 increase compared to the previous year. The unemployment rate among men was 12.4% and for women 16.5% in this category. The non-agricultural unemployment rate was 16%.
The youth unemployment rate for those between the ages of 15 and 24 was 25.4%, a 5.1% increase on the previous year. The unemployment rate for those between the ages of 15 and 64 was 14%, a 2.8% increase on the previous year.
The number of employed persons aged 15 years and above was 28,080 thousand, a decrease of 658,000 persons compared to the previous year, resulting in an employment rate of 45.7%. Employment rate was 63.1% for men and 28.7% for women.
Of those employed in 2019, 18.2 % were employed in agriculture, 19.8% were employed in industry, 5.5% were employed in construction, and 56.5% were employed in the service sector.
The total labour force in 2019 in Turkey was 32,549 thousand, an increase of 275 thousand on the previous year. The labour force participation rate as a % of total related population was 53%.