Turkey's unemployment rate falls to 10.6 percent

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - The unemployment rate in Turkey decreased 0.7 point to 10.6 percent in September, compared to the same month last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Friday.

The number of unemployed people, aged 15 and above, in the country declined to 3.4 million this September, a decrease of 104,000 from last September, when the unemployment rate stood at 11.3 percent, the statement said.

The rate was the same as August, according to TurkStat.

The fall came after Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 11.1 percent in the three months to Sept. 30 when compared to the same period last year, beating expectations of the world’s leading economists.

September's employment rate rose by 1.1 percentage point, from the same period last year, to 47.9 percent.

The labor force participation rate was also up by 0.8 percentage point year-on-year, going up to 53.6 percent.

The number of women participating in the workforce climbed 1 percentage point from the previous year to 34.5 percent.