Turkey jobless rate climbs to 12 per cent in July as supports end

Turkey’s unemployment rate rose to 12.0 per cent in July from 10.6 per cent a month earlier as pandemic-related labour supports expired, according to data on Friday that also showed an uptick in the underutilisation of workers.

A ban on layoffs imposed during the coronavirus outbreak and a government wage support system, both adopted in early 2020, expired at the start of July.

Both measures were designed to support businesses and registered employees during the pandemic while keeping a lid on the jobless rate, which peaked at 14.4 per cent in July last year.

In July this year, a seasonally adjusted measure of labour underutilisation climbed to 23.6 per cent from 22.4 per cent a month earlier. It had risen at the start of the year to around a peak touched in May of 2020 during the height of the initial COVID-19 lockdown.

The labour force participation rate rose 0.9 percentage points from a month earlier to 51.2 per cent in July. From January, the data was presented in a new format in line with international standards.

Turkey had imposed a full lockdown in the first half of May as COVID-19 cases surged to record levels but began easing restrictions in the second half of that month, giving a boost to sectors including tourism, restaurants and cafes.

The seasonally-adjusted youth unemployment rate was 23.1 per cent in July, unchanged from the level a month earlier. The non-agricultural unemployment rate was at 13.9 per cent in July, up 1.6 points from a month earlier.