UPDATE - Turkey: Unemployment rate down in August

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Aysu Bicer and Yunus Girgin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's unemployment rate was 13.2% in August with a decrease of 0.8 percentage point year-on-year, the Turkish Statistical Institute announced on Tuesday.

In July, the country's unemployment rate was 13.4%.

The number of unemployed youth aged 15 and over decreased by 456,000 to 4.2 million as of August compared to the same month last year, according to the institute. The youth unemployment rate aged between 15-24 years stood at 26.1% with a 1.3 percentage points fall, it added.

The non-agricultural unemployment rate also fell 1.0 percentage point to 15.7% year-on-year in the month.

Meanwhile, the employment rate was recorded at 43.9% with a 2.4 percentage points decrease compared to the same month of last year.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, 19.2% was employed in agriculture, 19.8% in industry, 6.2% in construction, and 54.7% in services sector.

- Labor force tops 31.7M

Additionally, labor force participation rate was 50.6% with a 3.3 percentage points drop.

Turkey's labor force fell by 1.43 million year-on-year to 31.74 million people as of August.

The country's labor force participation rate was 50.6% in the same month -- 76.2% for men and 36.3% for women.

The rate of unregistered employment -- people working without social security related to their principal occupation -- was 32.9% in August, down 3.2 percentage points on a yearly basis.