Turkey’s unemployment rate falls to 10.6 percent in August
ANKARA
Turkey’s unemployment rate edged down to 10.6 percent in the July-September period, from 10.7 percent a month earlier and compared with 11.3 percent a year earlier, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Nov. 15.
The non-agricultural unemployment rate stood at 12.8 percent on average during the July-September period, the data showed, down from 13 percent a month earlier and 13.7 percent a year earlier.
The youth unemployment rate for people aged 15-24 was 20.6 percent, with a 0.7 percentage point increase, while the unemployment rate for people aged 15-64 was 10.8 percent, with a 0.7 percentage point decrease.
The number of jobless aged 15 and over fell to 3.4 million, down 89,000 from the same month last year, TÜİK said.
August’s employment rate jumped 1.3 percent from the same period last year at 48 percent. The labor force participation rate was up 1.1 percentage point, year-on-year, to 53.7 percent.
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek said the government was working to bring unemployment down to single digits, after it hit a seven-year peak of 13 percent at the start of the year.
The government’s three-year medium-term program, which it renews each year, forecast unemployment at 10.8 percent in 2017, 10.5 percent in 2018 and dipping to single digits in 2019 and 2020.
