The number of women in employment increased by 1.5 million to 4.8 million.

ANKARA – The number of women in non-agricultural employment has increased by 50 percent (1.5 million) in the last five years, to 4.8 million.

The eighteenth issue of the TEPAV Employment Monitoring Bulletin reported, “Figures for February 2003 suggest that the pace of increase in the number of women in paid employment increased, slowly narrowing the gap between the numbers of men and women in paid employment.” Excluding the agricultural sector, the number of women in paid employment increased from 3.2 million in February 2008 to 4.8 million in February 2013. The bulletin said:

“This implies that the number of women in paid employment increased by more than 1.5 million in 6 years, corresponding to a 50 percent rise.

This firm increase in women’s employment can be traced also in the female labor force participation rates. Seasonally adjusted female labor force participation rate rose from 28.8 percent in February 2012 to 30.8 percent in January 2013 and to 31.1 percent in February 2013. The trend since 2005 suggests that participation rates have increased by almost 1 percentage point each year, which implies that the 38 percent target of the government for 2023 is feasible if the trend prevails. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that women’s unemployment also has tended upwards slightly in recent months. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for women increased from 10.2 percent in February 2012 to 11.2 percent in February 2013.”

TEPAV’s report noted that according to the SSI statistics, the seasonally adjusted women’s employment as a ratio to total employment decreased to some degree. The report noted, “Still, in line with the improvement in the female labor participation rate, women’s employment has increased steadily since 2008.” The report continued:

“According to the SSI figures, out of  the 306,000 women who entered registered paid employment, 48,000 were employed in the education sector, about 26,000 in the health sector, 21,000 in the food and beverages services sector, and 20,000 in the apparel sector. These sectors were followed by the retailing and office management sectors, which created 19,000 and 18,000 new registered jobs for women, respectively. Among the 306,000 new jobs for women that were created between February 2012 and 2013, 74,000 (about one fourth) were in the manufacturing sector, 61 percent of which were shared by the apparel (20,000), food (12,000), and textiles (11,000) sectors.

No progress made in overcoming informal employment

The Bulletin stated that according to the TURKSTAT data, the informal employment of women decreased slightly in the agricultural sector and increased in non-agricultural sectors in February 2013. “Although the SSI statistics indicate a significant increase in the rate of registered employment for women in absolute terms, TURKSTAT statistics that also involve unregistered employment figures do not reveal a considerable improvement in overcoming informal employment.” the Bulletin said. According to this, 51 percent of women are in unregistered employment. The Bulletin added that the share of housewives among women out of employment decreased by 2.2 percentage points annually to 41.4 percent.