Turkish unemployment holds steady at 13.4% in July period

ISTANBUL: Turkey's unemployment rate was unchanged at 13.4% in the June-August period versus the previous three months, and the participation rate rose, data showed on Monday, as the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh on workers.

Separate data on Monday showed the current account deficit widened sharply to $4.6 billion in August due to a major decline in tourism as a result of the pandemic.

After the release of the data, the lira was 0.4% weaker than Friday's close, at 7.8930.

While the unemployment rate fell from 13.9% a year earlier, the number of those employed declined by 1.254 million people year-on-year to stand at 43.5%, Turkish Statistical Institute data showed.

It was 46.4% in the same period last year.

The participation rate - the number of people in employment or seeking work - was 50.3%, compared with 49% a month earlier, though it was well short of the 53.8% rate last year.

The data also showed that the non-agricultural unemployment rate fell to 15.9% from 16.5% a year earlier. Youth unemployment was 25.9%, down from 27.1% a year earlier.

The government's 100 billion lira ($13 billion) aid programme partially covered registered workers' wages and also funded some 2 million needy households. By law, the layoff ban can be extended through mid-2021.

The Turkish central bank said on Monday the current account deficit stood at $4.63 billion in August, widening from $1.94 billion in July.

Last year as a whole there was a surplus of $1.674 billion.

Turkey's long history of current account deficits - it topped $52 billion in 2018 - is worrying investors as the lira touches record lows and the central bank eats into its foreign exchange reserves.

In a Reuters poll of 12 economists, forecasts for the August balance ranged between deficits of $1.5 billion and $4.9 billion.