Turkey's unemployment rises to 9.4 pct

ISTANBUL

Hürriyet photo

Turkey’s unemployment rate rose to 9.4 percent in November 2012, according to official data released today by the state-run statistics body TÜİK.

The number of jobless rose to 2.63 million in November 2012, an increase of 210,000 people from the same period a year earlier. The jobless rate also showed a 0.3 percent increase in the same period, reaching 9.4 percent. The rate in non-agricultural sectors also reached 11.4 percent with a 0.3 percent rise.

However, more than 1 million jobs were created this year compared to the same period last year, which upgraded the employment number to 25.29 million as the employment rate increased from 44.9 percent to 45.9 percent in the same period.

The labor force participation rate increased to 50.7 percent thanks to a 1.3 percent rise. The informal workers rate fell to 50.7 percent with a 2.2 percent decrease.