FEMALE UNEMPLOYMENT IS ALARMING
Seyfettin Gürsel, Hamza Mutluay, Mehmet Cem Şahin
Executive Summary
Since the number of unemployed persons increased by 39 thousand and employment rose by 228 thousand, labor force rose by 267 thousand. As a result, the unemployment rate stayed at 11.2%. According to the sectorial data, the employment levels in all sectors increased. The employment levels of the industrial and construction sectors rose as opposed to the monthly decreases in those sectors in the last month. Employment level of industrial sector increased by 73 thousand and employment level of construction sector by 10 thousand. Employment levels of agricultural and services sectors rose by 49 thousand and 96 thousand, respectively. The cumulative increase in the services sector reached 480 thousand in the last three months.
Seasonally adjusted female unemployment rate rose by 0.6 percentage point (pp) MoM to 14.5% because of the increases in the female employment and female labor force by 74 thousand and 156 thousand, respectively. On the other hand, seasonally adjusted male unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 pp to 9,6% following the rise in the employment and the labor force by 153 thousand and 111 thousand, respectively. In November, female labor force increased more than female employment the number of unemployed females rose by 80 thousand. Following these developments, the gender gap in the unemployment rates of females and males surged by 0.9 pp to 4.9%.