UPDATE - Turkey: Unemployment rate stands at 13.4% in July

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's unemployment rate was 13.4% with 0.5 percentage point drop in July, the Turkish Statistical Institute announced on Monday.

The number of unemployed aged 15 and over decreased 369,000 to 4.22 million as of July compared to July 2019, according to the institute.

The non-agricultural unemployment rate also fell 0.6 percentage point to 15.9%, year-on-year in July.

The youth unemployment rate among those aged 15-24 was recorded as 25.9% with 1.2 percentage points fall, it added.

The employment rate stood at 43.5% with 2.9 percentage-point drop.

In June, the country's unemployment rate was 13.4%, with 4.1 million unemployed people aged 15 and above.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, 19.4% was employed in the agriculture, 19.6% in industry, 6.1% in construction and 54.9% in the services sector.

- Labor force reaches 31.5M

Also, labor force participation rate was registered as 50.3% with 3.5 percentage points fall.

Turkey's labor force fell 1.62 million year-on-year to 31.5 million people as of July.

The country's labor force participation rate was 50.3% in the same month -- 69.2% for men and 31.7% for women.

The rate of unregistered employment -- people working without social security related to their principal occupation -- was 32.7% in July, down 3.3 percentage points on a yearly basis.

Turkey's new economic program, announced at the end of September, targets an unemployment rate of 13.8% this year and 12.9% next year.

The government will implement policies for economic recovery during the post-pandemic period to support the labor market.