Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz evaluates unemployment data: 'Our labor market is strong'

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has announced the 'Labor Force Statistics 2023' data. Accordingly, the number of unemployed persons aged 15 and over decreased by 318,000 in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching 3 million 264 thousand. The unemployment rate fell by 1.0 percentage point to 9.4 percent, while the unemployment rate for the youth population was 17.4 percent. The unemployment rate was estimated at 7.7 percent for men and 12.6 percent for women.

Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz evaluated the TÜİK data via his X account. In his post, Yılmaz stated the following:

"The unemployment rate decreased by 1 percentage point in 2023 compared to the previous year, coming in at 9.4 percent. With an improvement exceeding the Medium-Term Program (OVP) target of 10.1 percent, the unemployment rate has returned to single-digit levels after 9 years. 

The number of employed persons increased by 880,000, reaching 31 million 632 thousand in 2023, in line with our projections in the OVP. During this period, when we are focusing on the fight against inflation, the decline in the unemployment rate and the increase in employment demonstrate the strong outlook of our labor market.

While the employment rate increased by 0.8 percentage points in 2023 compared to the previous year to reach 48.3 percent, the labor force participation rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 53.3 percent. Realizations in both the employment rate and the labor force participation rate were in line with OVP targets.

In 2023, the labor force participation rate increased by 0.7 percentage points for women to 35.8 percent, and by 1.8 percentage points for young people to 45.6 percent compared to the previous year. The unemployment rate decreased on an annual basis by 0.8 percentage points for women to 12.6 percent, and by 2 percentage points for young people to 17.4 percent.

The 2.9 percent increase in the number of employed persons in 2023 was driven by employment growth in the construction and services sectors. The rate of informal employment decreased by 0.7 percentage points in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching 26.1 percent.

With the strengthening of the growth-employment relationship and the continuation of our stable growth performance, we expect employment growth to continue, particularly for women and young people."

The unemployment rate decreased by 1 percentage point in 2023 compared to the previous year, coming in at 9.4 percent. With an improvement exceeding the Medium-Term Program (OVP) target of 10.1 percent, the unemployment rate has returned to single-digit levels after 9 years.

The number of employed persons is in line with our projections in the OVP... https://t.co/J3ByNi9SAk

— Cevdet Yılmaz (@_cevdetyilmaz) March 25, 2024

News Source: 12punto