Unemployment rate drops to record lowest point

The unemployment rate in Turkey dropped to 8.2% in May, compared with 9% the previous month and 9.4% in May 2011, as Anatolia news agency reports quoting official data released yesterday. The figure is the lowest in the last 10 years, said Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek. The decrease in the labor market, a significant improvement despite a slowing economy, was mainly due to seasonal effects in the services sector and an early start to the harvest. But the seasonally adjusted figure remained unchanged at 9%, which is still the lowest level since the initiation of the new employment indexes in 2005. There are nearly 25.3 million employed and 2.7 million unemployed people in Turkey, Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data show. The workforce participation rate remained unchanged at 50.5% in May compared with May 2011. Some 25.2% of the workforce is employed in the agricultural sector, 18.8% in industry, 7.2% in construction and 48% in services. The agricultural sector alone accounted for more than half of the increase in employment, Turkish Chambers of Agriculture Union (TZOB) President Semsi Bayraktar said yesterday. Non-farm unemployment dropped to 10.4% from 12%, and youth employment dropped 1.6 points to 15.9% year-on-year in May, TUIK said.