People queue up in front of a Turkish Employment Agency building.
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The number of unemployed people stood at 9,75 million (28.7 percent) in April, according to the broad definition of unemployment, according to a union report based on the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) figures.
When the number of full-time job losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic was added, the number reached 17.7 million, said the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey Research Center (DİSK-AR).
According to the TurkStat figures, the number of unemployed dropped by 427,000 to 3.77 million in April and the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 points to 12.8 percent.
Saying that the TurkStat figures were "too low to reflect the earthquake created by Covid-19," the DİSK-AR noted it used the International Labor Organization's (ILO) "full-time equivalent loss of jobs" method to calculate the loss of jobs and unemployment.
It said that it used an alternative method of calculation because the TurkStat figures consider millions of people who receive a short-time work allowance or unpaid leave allowance are employed.
According to the DİSK-AR report;