UPDATE - Türkiye's unemployment rate falls to 8.4% in May

UPDATES WITH VICE PRESIDENT'S REMARKS

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The unemployment rate in Türkiye was 8.4% in May, down 0.2 percentage points from April, official figures showed on Monday.

The number of unemployed persons – aged 15 years old and over – decreased by 69,000 to 2.97 million month-on-month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

Unemployment was estimated at 6.5% for men and 11.9% for women.

Youth unemployment rate, meanwhile, was 15.4% last month.

The number of employed persons in the country was 32.5 million in May.

Cevdet Yilmaz, the Turkish vice president, said on X that the strong outlook in the labor market is being maintained; while the country's employment level is rising, its unemployment rate continues to fall.

The unemployment rate, which is progressing better than the country's medium term program forecasts, remains in single digits, he stressed.

"As we move forward with confidence in the disinflation process, we aim to reduce unemployment through measures that will further strengthen the labor market in the coming period, and to permanently increase social welfare through our people-centered and inclusive development policies," he added.