Unemployment rate at 13.4 pct in October 2019
ANKARA-Anadolu Agency
Turkey's unemployment stood at 13.4 percent in October 2019, said the country's statistical authority on Jan. 10.
The October figure showed an annual rise of 1.8 percentage points, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said.
"The number of unemployed persons aged 15+ increased by 608,000 to 4.39 million persons in the period of October 2019 in Turkey compared with the same period of the previous year," it noted.
Non-agricultural unemployment rate stood at 15.7 percent, showing a 2.1 percentage point rise year-on-year.
The unemployment rate for young people aged 15-24 surged 3 percentage points to 25.3 percent during the same period.
The figure for unemployed people aged 15-64 climbed 1.8 percentage points to 13.7 percent in the month on a yearly basis.
Meanwhile, the number of people employed fell to 28.34 million in October, down 527,000 from the same month of previous year, indicating a 45.9 percent employment rate in the country.
"According to the distribution of employment by sector, 17.9 percent were employed in agriculture, 20 percent in industry, 5.8 percent in construction, and 56.3 percent in services," it said.
Official data showed Turkey's labor force participation rate dropped 0.7 percentage points to 53 percent in October year-on-year.
As laid out in Turkey's new economic program announced last September, the government targeted a 12.9 percent unemployment rate for 2019.
