Türkiye's unemployment rate edged lower in the first quarter of the year, even as the number of employed people and overall labor force both declined, official data showed Monday.
The unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point from the previous quarter to 8.2%, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said. Unemployment stood at 6.8% for men and 11.1% for women.
The number of unemployed people declined by 52,000 to 2.89 million during the January-March period.
However, the number of employed people also fell by 301,000 from the previous quarter to 32.22 million, the data showed. As a result, the employment rate dropped 0.5 percentage points to 48.3%.
The employment rate was significantly higher among men at 65.7%, compared with 31.3% for women.
The labor force also contracted, falling by 353,000 to nearly 35.12 million. The labor force participation rate declined 0.7 percentage points to 52.6%.
Unemployment among young people aged 15-24 remained unchanged at 15.2% in the first quarter.
Within this group, the jobless rate stood at 12.6% for men and 20.4% for women.
According to TurkStat, employment fell by 44,000 in agriculture, 20,000 in industry, 48,000 in construction and 189,000 in services.
Despite the declines, the services sector continued to dominate employment, accounting for 59.3% of total jobs. Industry accounted for 20.2%, agriculture 13.8% and construction 6.7%.
The composite "idle labor force" rate, which includes time-related underemployment, potential labor force and the unemployed, rose 0.6 percentage points to 30.4%.
The data showed the combined rate of underemployment and unemployment stood at 19.8%, while the combined rate of potential labor force and unemployment was estimated at 20.4%.
