Provincial unemployment figures reveal drastic economic disparity in Turkey

The study revealed provincial-level employment figures for 2008 based on a new model developed by TurkStat. According to the report, the labor force participation rate for Turkey was 46.9 percent. This indicator was highest in Rize with 66.3 percent, Gümüşhane (65.4 percent) and Artvin (62.5 percent). The lowest participation rates were found in Diyarbakır (26.9 percent), Siirt (27.2 percent) and Şırnak (29.8 percent). İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir, the powerhouses of the Turkish economy, had labor force participation rates of 46.5 percent, 45 percent and 45.2 percent, respectively. The employment rate, or the number of people employed out of the total population, was 41.7 percent in 2008 in Turkey.

The highest three provinces were Rize (62.8 percent), Gümüşhane (62.2 percent) and Artvin (58.9 percent), and the lowest employment rate was found in Siirt (22.3 percent), Diyarbakır (22.7 percent) and Şırnak (23.2 percent). İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir enjoyed an employment rate of 41.3 percent, 39.7 percent, and 39.9 percent, respectively.

Unemployment was lowest in Ardahan (3.7 percent), Kars (4.1 percent) and Bayburt (4.7 percent), and highest in the provinces of Şırnak (22.1 percent), Adana (20.5 percent) and Hakkari (18.3 percent). İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir found themselves again in the middle of the distribution, with 11.2 percent, 11.8 percent, and 11.8 percent, respectively. The number of people unemployed in İstanbul is 1.4 million according to the calculations.

According to TurkStat, which unveiled a new methodology for calculating provincial employment, unemployment and the labor force participation rate, variables regarding employment are usually calculated based on a nationwide survey that samples individuals from various provinces. Calculating statistics on employment in provinces is difficult when using this methodology as it requires a much larger sample size that is more focused on a micro perspective rather than the macro national picture. Turkstat thus developed a new methodology that uses selected external variables such as provincial demographic indicators, social security data and Turkish Employment Office data, mostly based on administrative registers and determined using econometric studies with the original variables obtained from the nationwide survey.