Over 3 Million Unemployed at Beginning of 2009

Data from the Turkish Statistical Institute shows that the deepening of the crisis has caused an increase in unemployment. In December 2008 alone, 533,000 people lost their jobs.

Erhan Üstündağ

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has announced that the number of unemployed rose to 3 million 274 thousand people in December 2008. In November 2008, the number stood at 2 million 995 thousand.

Compared to last year, there has been a three percent increase in unemployment, which stands at 13.6 percent. This average is 15.4 in the cities and 10.7 in rural areas. As for non-agricultural unemployment, it stands at 17.3 percent.

Real number is higher

While this number is already high, economist Mustafa Sönmez has reminded bianet readers previously that the Statistical Institute disregards those who are not actively seeking work in its statistics. The rate of real unemployment is thus higher than the official statistics.

Of those who became unemployed in December, 24.5 percent had worked in agriculture, 12 percent in industry, 4.1 in the construction sector, and 20.2 percent in the services sector.

According to institute figures, of the 11 million 790 people who had previously worked but where outside of the labour force in December 2008:

10.7 percent had retired
13 percent were in seasonally dependent employment
8.9 percent had left for health reasons
4.9 percent had stopped working because their spouses wanted them to or because they got married
4.4 percent had been dismissed or their work places had closed
3.4 percent had left because they were unhappy with their work
15.5 percent had left their last employment for various reasons.

In December 2008, 1 million 124 thousand people started to work or changed jobs. 30.5 percent of these people were aged between 25 and 34.

In this group of people, 17.5 percent started work in industry, 40.2 percent in services, 23.4 percent in construction, and 18.8 percent in agriculture.

According to the Statistical Institute, 16.3 percent of those unemployed in December, that is 553,000 people, became unemployed in that time. As for unemployment in January and February 2009, a total of 148,383 people applied for unemployment benefits.

Number of tax payers has decreased

According to Ntvmsnbc news, there were 5 million 403 thousand 633 active tax payers, paying income tax, corporation tax, value added tax (VAT) and basic tax (for small-scale businesses) in the last quarter of 2008.

However, at the beginning of March, the number of tax payers has dropped: income tax payers by 35,931, corporation tax payers by 4,324, VAT payers by 35,714 and basic tax payers by 13,217. (EÜ/AG)