Seyfettin Gürsel and Duygu Güner
According to the labor market statistics released by TURKSTAT on 15th of June, non-agricultural employment has increased by 957 thousand, non-agricultural labor force by 641 thousand in the period of March 2010 (February-March-April). Following the expansion in non-agricultural employment, a larger decrease occurred in non-agricultural unemployment compared the one observed in the period of February 2010 (January-February-March). Non-agricultural unemployment decreased by 316 thousand, and settled at the 3 million 317 thousand level. As a consequence, the non-agricultural unemployment rate decreased to 16.7 percent in the period of March 2010 from 18.9 percent during the same period in 2009.
Figure 1 depicts the year-on-year differences of non-agricultural labor force, employment and unemployment. Non-agricultural labor force figures implies that non-agricultural labor force expansion reverted to its mean, which we estimate to be around 600 thousand. We think that non-agricultural employment will stay high in the upcoming periods parallel to the high growth expectations. As a result, unemployment will continue to decrease compared to its level in crisis year 2009.
doc. ResearchBrief076
pdf. ResearchBrief076