Turkey‘s unemployment rate decreased to 10.7 percent, while a seasonally adjusted measure of labour underutilization decreased by 0.9 percentage points to 21.8 percent, according to official figures released on Monday.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic-related actions, the measure of labour underutilization has been on a downward trend for much of the past year, after reaching a peak of 29.6 percent in January 2021.
According to the latest data, the revised unemployment rate for January was 11.2 percent.
According to figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute, the labour force participation rate declined 0.2 percentage points from a month earlier to 52.2 percent in February, down from 52.3 percent in January.
According to data released, the Canadian economy has also shed more jobs than expected in January, the first decrease since May 2021, when the Omicron-driven Covid-19 wave peaked, though economists predict a quick rebound in the coming months.
According to Statistics Canada, Canada lost 200,100 jobs between January and April 2021, roughly equivalent to the losses between January and April of the previous year, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent from a revised 6.0 percent in December.
The media expected that 117,500 jobs would be lost and that the unemployment rate would rise to 6.2 percent.
“It’s a little weaker than we expected,” said Andrew Kelvin, TD Securities’ chief Canada economist. “However, that fits in pretty well with what we witnessed last spring.”
“Given how closely it relates to the lockdowns associated with the Omicron variety, I believe it’s something we should investigate.”
Ontario and Quebec, Canada’s two largest provinces, tightened restrictions as the Omicron variant spread. Ontario reopened gyms and indoor eating establishments this week, while Quebec approved limited physical activity and reopened cafes.
