DROP IN EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR FORCE RESULTED IN LIMITED DECREASE IN UNEMPLOYMENT
Seyfettin Gürsel, Mehmet Cem Şahin
Seasonally adjusted labor market data shows that in the period of December 2019, non-agricultural unemployment rate turned out to be 15.3 percent, with 0.1 percentage point decrease compared to November 2019. In this period, non-agricultural employment decreased by 40 thousand while non-agricultural labor force decreased by 80 thousand. According to sectorial data, employment losses occurred in all sectors except construction. While construction employment increased by 25 thousand, manufacturing employment and services employment decreased by 59 thousand and 6 thousand, respectively. Based on the seasonally adjusted data, while male non-agricultural unemployment rate continued to decrease, female non-agricultural unemployment rate remained unchanged.