UPDATE - Turkish unemployment hits 12-year low in May

UPDATES WITH COMMENTS BY VICE PRESIDENT, TRADE AND LABOR MINISTERS; REVISES HEADLINE; OTHER EDITS

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Unemployment in Türkiye dropped to 8.4% in May, its lowest rate since November 2012 – nearly 12 years ago – official figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute said Wednesday.

The rate was at 8.5% in April and 9.5% in May 2023, according to TurkStat data.

The number of unemployed people dropped 27,000 to 3.01 million in May on monthly basis.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons rose 273,000 to 32.9 million in May 2024 compared to the previous month.

The employment rate was at 50%, up 0.4 percentage points, over the same period.

The youth unemployment rate – for the 15-24 age group – was 15%, up 0.3 percentage points, on a monthly basis.

- Boosting employment of women, young people

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said on X that thanks to employment-friendly policies implemented by the country during the disinflation process, the Turkish economy continues to generate employment.

He said: "For stable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, we attach importance to youth and women playing a greater role in production.

"As we move forward in the disinflation period, we will continue to increase employment with our development-oriented policies that include all sectors of society, especially youth and women, and support entrepreneurship and innovation."

Omer Bolat, the Turkish trade minister, also said on X that the upward trend in exports and the downward trend in imports help fuel economic growth and support employment indicators.

The Turkish economy grew 5.7% in the first quarter of 2024, with net exports contributing 1.6 percentage points to growth, he said, adding: "In addition to the actions we have taken to boost exports, we will continue to support production and employment with our import policies to protect domestic producers against unfair and illegal competition."

Vedat Isikhan, the labor and social security minister, also said that with the steps the country has taken, employment is growing and unemployment continues to decline.

"As a result of the decisive steps we have taken for investment, production, employment and export-oriented growth, we are getting the results we expect in unemployment data," he said.