As you will probably have discovered, a turboprop powerplant has two distinct units:
1. The 'Gas generator'
2. The other bit, with no specific name
The gas generator is almost analogous to the engine in a piston aircraft up to the end of the crankshaft. (Although strictly speaking, the gas generator does not include the 'power turbine', which extracts the useful energy from the gas stream to drive the prop). Thereafter, the rest of the powerplant is somewhat flexible. The Astazou engine, for instance, was used on both the Jetstream and the Gazelle (Hardly 'peas in a pod', you might say). It would therefore be nonsense to suggest a particular thrust value, since this would depend vastly upon the propeller (which could come from a different manufacturer to the GG).
Jet engines, on the other hand, although they work on the same principles (particularly high BR turbofans) are generally marketed as a single unit from one manufacturer, and since thrust is a more convenient commodity to work with than power, it is far easier to bypass an intermediate stage of calculation (via prop effeciency, which could not apply in any case) and cut to the chase. Indeed, in order to gauge the useful power output of a jet engine, one would have to bultiply the thrust by the speed of the aircraft, which raises the question 'what speed?'. Jet engines (especially old turbojets) also have a much flatter thrust profile with respect to speed, so thrust is 'more constant'.
In conclusion, I would suggest that the main reason for the difference is simply convention. Whereas from an aircraft designer's point of view, turboprops have developed as a descendant of the piston engine, with which they are directly compared, jets have a pedigree of their own, and as such, have their own set of engineering conventions. Might I also add that jet engines are a lot easier for design engineers to deal with than propellers, which present nothing but grief and hardship to all concerned.
Sorry if this upsets you as a turboprop driver!
Pie
[This message has been edited by Pielander (edited 03 July 2001).]