MILD INCREASE IN UNEMPLOYMENT AS EMPLOYMENT DROPS IN SERVICES
Seyfettin Gürsel, Gökçe Uysal and Hamza Mutluay
Seasonally adjusted labor market data show that in the period of October 2020, non-agricultural unemployment rate is 14.9 percent following a 0.1 percentage point increase from September 2020. In this period, while non-agricultural employment decreased by 5 thousand, labor force increased by 25 thousand. According to sectoral data, employment decreased in the construction and services sectors. While employment in the construction and services sectors decreased by 2 thousand and 70 thousand respectively, employment in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors increased by 6 thousand and 67 thousand, respectively. According to seasonally adjusted data, the female non-agricultural employment decreased by 63 thousand and female labor force by 77 thousand. As a result, the non-agricultural female unemployment rate remained unchanged at 18.3 percent. As for the male labor force and employment, they increased by 73 thousand and 44 thousand, respectively. Thus, the non-agricultural male unemployment rate increased from 13.4 to 13.5 percent. The existing gender gap in non-agricultural unemployment rate is 4.8 percent.