Number of employed women in Turkey falls 40,000

ANKARA

The number of employed women in Turkey decreased 40,000 in November 2016 compared to the same month of 2015, according to a new report prepared by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV). 

TEPAV’s latest workforce report stated that the fall in women’s employment amounted to a 1 percent drop year-on-year in the same period. 

While the number of employed women decreased in 13 of the total 24 sectors, the remaining 11 sectors saw an increase, according to the report, prepared using data from the Social Security Institution (SGK). 

Overall, the number of wage-earning workers in Turkey fell by 140,000 in November 2016 compared to the same month of 2015. The steepest decline was seen in the small and medium-scaled enterprises (SMEs), with the number of employed people in these enterprises dropping by 156,000 in the same period. 

Istanbul saw the largest decrease in the number of SME-employed workers at 66,000, followed by the Mediterranean province of Antalya with 28,000, the capital Ankara with 18,000, the Black Sea province of Zonguldak with 6,000 and the southeastern province of Gaziantep with 5,000. 

Some 53 provinces of out of Turkey’s 81 provinces saw a decline in the number of wagers. 

Antalya saw the steepest overall decline with the loss of 47,000 in the mentioned period, while the highest increases in employment were seen in the industrial northwestern province of Kocaeli and the eastern province of Şırnak. 

Meanwhile, Turkey’s unemployment rate rose to 12.1 percent in November 2016, marking the highest such rate since March 2010, official data showed on Feb. 15. 

The number of unemployed persons aged 15 years and above rose to 3.7 million in November 2016, 590,000 more than the same period of the previous year, pushing the unemployment rate to 12.1 percent with a 1.6 percentage point increase, according to Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) data. 

The youth unemployment rate, including persons aged 15-24, was 22.6 percent with a 3.5 percentage point increase, while the unemployment rate for persons aged 15-64 was 12.3 percent with a 1.6 percentage point increase.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was also announced at 11.8 percent with a 0.1 percentage point increase.

The number of employed people was 27.07 million in November 2016, up 391,000 from a year earlier. The labor force participation rate (LFPR) was 52.1 percent, up by 0.9 percentage point or 980,000 people.