The Turkish Employment Agency’s (İŞKUR) unemployment data for the month of July showed that 37 percent of the 4 million registered unemployed in Turkey are between the ages of 15 and 24, the Ahval news website reported.
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) had announced unemployment for that age group at 23.3 percent in the May 2019 report on Labor Force Statistics.
Over 1 million unemployed persons hold a university degree or higher.
According to the İŞKUR data, more than 1 million people applied for unemployment benefits between January and June 2019, of whom 531,000 were deemed eligible.
Compared to July 2018, the total number of registered unemployed increased by 51.2 percent, from 2,670,970 to 4,039,541. The all-time record had been broken in June 2019, with 4,417,814.
In July a total of 158,060 persons were placed in jobs, most as sales representatives, tourism workers and security guards, indicating that the 34.1 percent increase in job placement over the previous month was due in part to seasonal tourism work.
There were 20.8 percent fewer job openings listed in July 2019 compared to the same month of 2018, with job openings for 191,556 persons. The decrease in job listings is indicative of shrinkage in the job market.