UPDATE WITH MORE DETAILS
By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) - Unemployment in Turkey rose to 13.4% this June, up 0.4 percentage points from the same month last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said on Thursday.
The number of unemployed persons age 15 and over slipped by 152,000 year-on-year to 4.1 million by the end of June.
On a monthly basis, June's figure also rose 0.5 percentage points, as unemployment in May stood at 12.9%.
TurkStat data showed the employment rate reached 42.4%, falling significantly by 4 percentage points on an annual basis.
"The number of employed persons decreased by 1.98 million to 26.5 million in June 2020 compared with the same period last year," it said.
Non-agricultural unemployment increased 0.6 percentage points to 15.9% during the same period.
The youth unemployment rate, including people age 15-24, was 16.1% in June, an increase of 1.3 percentage points on a yearly basis.
The labor force participation rate also went down by 4.3 percentage points year-on-year, falling to 49% in the month.
The labor force participation rate for males dropped 4.8 percentage points to 67.6%, and for females it was 30.8%, an annual decline of 3.9 percentage points.
TurkStat also reported that the rate of unregistered employment – people working without social security related to their principal occupation – was 31.3% in June, marking a 3.9-percentage point decrease from June 2019.
The Turkish government targets an unemployment rate for this year at 11.8% as laid out in its economic program. Unemployment is projected to drop gradually to hit 9.8% in 2022 as part of the program.