Unemployment rate remains at 9.1 percent

ISTANBUL-Hürriyet Daily News

Development Minister Yılmaz says Turkey should increase women’s employment. Hürriyet photo

The unemployment rate in Turkey dropped 1.9 points to 9.1 percent in November 2011 over the same month a year earlier, according to the November 2011 report released yesterday by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

The figure was the same as last October.

The number of employed persons increased 1,413,000 to 24,267,000 in November 2011 on an annual basis, according to the report. The employment increase in the agricultural sector was at 308,000 and in non-agricultural sectors was at 1,105,000.

The number of unemployed persons fell to 2,429,000 down from 2,811,000 in the same period.

The unemployment rate in urban areas decreased 2.2 points to 11 percent whereas it was 5.5 percent in rural areas with only a 1 percent decrease.

The labor force participation rate increased 0.8 points to 49.4 percent. Men constituted a large majority of the participation rate at 71.3 percent.

The unregistered employment rate decreased 2.1 point to 40.7 percent. More than 57 percent of the employed persons work at businesses employing less than 10 workers.

However, according to seasonally adjusted data, the unemployment rate was at 9.3 percent last November. The increase in the number of employed persons was 80,000 and the decrease in the unemployed persons was 21,000. Also, the labor force participation rate remained unchanged according to the seasonally adjusted data, holding at 49.8 percent.

TÜİK’s data in the November 2011 report covers the last three months of 2011 derived from more than 36,000 households.