Unemployment rises to 9.1 percent in September

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

An ironworker welds in this photo. The total number of employed people increased from 24,749,000 to 25,472,000 in July-September period. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK

Unemployment rose to an average of 9.1 percent for the August-October period, from 8.8 percent in the July-September period, data showed yesterday, following recent gross domestic product data that were weaker than expected.

While unemployment in urban areas increased by 0.2 percent to 11.3 percent, unemployment in rural areas increased by 0.3 percent to 4.8 percent, figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) revealed.

The total number of unemployed people was 2,398,000 in September 2011, which had increased to 2,539,000 in the same month this year. The total number of employed people, meanwhile, increased from 24,749,000 to 25,472,000 during this period.

Consumer confidence index increased
Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said the Turkish employment volume had been over 25 million for the past five months and would exceed 26 million this summer. In a written statement yesterday, he said employment had risen by 750,000 people compared to 2011.

“The unemployment rate is still high but we will bring it down. Comparing the unemployment rate of some other countries with Turkey, we can say that Turkey is successful,” he said. Çağlayan said Turkey was doing much better than 12 other EU countries with regard to the unemployment rate. Meanwhile, the consumer confidence index, which was 85.7 in October, has increased by 4 percent compared to previous month and was 89.2 in November.

In the latest monthly consumer tendency survey, which was carried out with the cooperation of TÜİK and the Central Bank, consumers’ assessments of the current situation and their expectations for their personal financial standing and general economic situation were evaluated and their expenditure tendencies for the near future were measured.

The consumer confidence index calculated from the survey results can take value between 0-200. An index above 100 indicates a positive outlook, while an index below 100 indicates a negative outlook.