Turkey's unemployment rate rises to 9.4 pct in May

ANKARA

The unemployment rate in Turkey rose 0.1 percentage point in May year-on-year, the Turkish Statistical Institute said in a statement Monday.

The number of unemployed persons age 15 and over rose to 2.89 million in May 2016, an increase of 106,000 from the previous year, while the unemployment rate stood at 9.4 percent, the statement said.

Unemployment also saw a 0.1 percentage point increase from April 2016, according to the report.

The employment rate in May increased by 0.6 percentage point to 47.5 percent from the same period last year, as Turkey added nearly 800,000 jobs.

The labor force participation rate also rose 0.8 percentage point in May year-on-year, to 52.5 percent.

The number of women participating in the workforce increased 0.8 percentage point from the previous year to 32.9 percent.

"Unemployment figures in seasonally adjusted terms showed some deterioration in May rising towards 10.2 percent up from the previous period’s 9.8 percent though remaining constant compared to May 2015," said Ozlem Bayraktar Goksen, chief economist at Tacirler Investment.

Goksen noted that the non-farm unemployment rate also inched up to 12.2 percent from April’s 11.7 percent.

"As for employment generation, the sectoral employment figures in seasonally adjusted terms showed that the increase has been continuing in non-farm sectors, mainly in the services sector side, though at a slower pace," she said.

"The unemployment figures show significant improvement, with 1 million employment generation in non-farm sectors in a year period standing as a main driver behind the economic growth," Goksen added.

"It would be more useful to concentrate on additional job opportunities [nearly 800,000 new jobs] created by the economy instead of unemployment statistics changing monthly, especially in a globally troubled environment in terms of providing the young population with new jobs," said Mehmet Ali Gulec, analyst at Istanbul-based Strateji Securities.

"Despite the recent adverse events, I believe that the unemployment figures will show a positive trend as a result of improvements in the investment climate with the government's measures," said Gulec.

"The rise in July unemployment is due to more people joining the labor force," said KapitalFx analyst Enver Erkan.