UPDATE - Turkey's unemployment rate at 13.7% in 2019

UPDATES WITH MORE DATA

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's unemployment rate stood at 13.7% in 2019, the country’s statistical authority said on Friday.

The figure marked a 2.7% rise compared to the previous year.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the number of unemployed aged 15 and over in Turkey reached 4.4 million last year -- a rise of 932,000 compared to 2018.

Non-agricultural unemployment rate stood at 16.0% in 2019, showing a 3.1% rise.

"Unemployment rate for the 15-24 age group realized as 25.4% with 5.1%-point increase, employment rate in this age group occurred as 33.1% with 1.9 percentage point decrease," it noted.

The figure for people aged between 15-64 climbed 2.8% to 14.0%, it said.

"The rate of neither in employment nor in education realized as 26.0% with 1.5 percentage point increase," TurkStat said.

The number of women participating in the workforce went up 0.4 to 38.7% in 2019.

The labor force participation rate dropped 0.2% on an annual basis, falling to 53% last year.

In 2019, 18.2% of total employment was occupied in agriculture, 19.8% was employed in industry, 5.5% in construction and 56.5% in services, the report revealed.

Turkish government targeted a 12.9% unemployment rate for 2019 under its economic program announced last September. The program estimates the unemployment rate will decrease gradually to hit 9.8% in 2022.