DIE releases results of household labor force survey

ANKARA (AA) – Employment rate, another important indicator explaining the improvement in employment decreased from 44.8 percent to 42.3 percent for Turkey, from 38.1 percent to 37.7 percent for urban areas, and from 55.3 percent to 49.5 percent for rural areas in the fourth quarter of 2003 when compared with the results of the same quarter of 2002.

The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) announced on Sunday preliminary results of the fourth quarter of 2003 Household Labor Force Survey, which was adapted by International Labor Organization’s (ILO) definitions.

According to the results, total employment was estimated 20 million 811 thousand with a decrease of 847 thousand in the fourth quarter of 2003, when compared to the results of the same quarter of previous year.

In the fourth quarter of 2003, 27.2 percent (5 million 652 thousand) of the total employment was female. The women employment decreased by 11.3 percent (721 thousand) according to the results of the same quarter of previous year. This mostly results from a decrease in the number of unpaid family workers working in agriculture sector. When the share of women employment in total employment was 19.9 percent in urban areas, this rate was 35.9 percent in rural areas.

57.1 percent of employed women were working in agriculture sector and 80.7 percent of them were unpaid family workers.

48.7 percent of employed women in Turkey (2 million 755 thousand) were working as unpaid family workers. The share of female unpaid family workers in total unpaid family workers was 70.3 percent.

Employed children between 12-17 age group in Turkey were estimated to be 654 thousand according to the results of the fourth quarter of 2003. The child employment between the same age group decreased by 22.4 percent (189 thousand) according to the same quarter of previous year. 46.7 percent of employed children in this age group were in agriculture sector, 27.3 percent of them were in services sector and 25.9 percent of them were in industry sector. 43.4 percent of employed children (284 thousand) between 12-17 age group were in urban areas. 62.2 percent of employed children in this age group were male in Turkey.

According to the results of the fourth quarter of 2003, the employed persons in public sector was estimated to be 3 million 245 thousand with a decrease of 2.8 percent, when compared with the results of the same quarter of previous year. 73.1 percent of the employed persons in public sector were residing in urban areas. The share of employed persons in public sector within total employment was 15.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003. This share was estimated to be 15.6 percent according to the results of the fourth quarter of 2002.

When employed persons were examined by the status of social security registration in their current job, 26.8 percent of total employed persons were registered to Social Insurance Institution, 10.5 percent of them were registered to Retirement Fund and 10.8 percent of them were registered to Self Employment Organization according to the results of the fourth quarter of 2003. 51.6 percent of total employed persons were not registered to any social security institutions in Turkey. This rate was 32.7 percent for urban areas and was 74.7 percent for rural areas. 63 percent of total employed persons who were not registered to any social security institutions were male.