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

UPDATE WITH MORE DETAILS

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's unemployment rate in December 2019 stood at 13.7%, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) revealed Tuesday.

The figure was marginally up from the same month of the previous year, rising 0.2 percentage point, TurkStat said in a statement.

The number of jobless aged 15 and over in the country reached 4.4 million by the end of last year -- a rise of 94,000 from November 2018.

On a monthly basis, December's figure also rose 0.4 percentage point, when unemployment stood at 13.3% in November 2019.

The unemployment rate in December was well above the government's target of 12.9% for 2019 under its economic program announced last September.

Turkey's employment rate rose to 44.7% -- almost 28.17 million people -- in December last year, rising 0.7 percentage points from December 2018.

The youth unemployment rate among people aged 15-24 years hit 25%, a rise of 0.5 percentage points during the same period.

"The rate of neither in employment nor in education realized as 25.4% with 0.5 percentage points increase compared with the same period of the previous year," TurkStat said.

The labor force participation rate slipped 0.6 percentage point on an annual basis, falling to 51.8% in December last year.

The rate for men was 71%, showing a 0.7 percentage point fall, and 33% for women, a 0.6 percentage points decrease, both-year-on-year.

The new economic program estimates the unemployment rate will decrease gradually to hit 9.8% in 2022.