UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DOWN TO 11.4%

The unemployment rate dropped from 12.1% to 11.4% in February, compared to the previous month, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined by 0.5% to 10.7% in the same period. The number of unemployed people aged 15 and over decreased by 178,000 to 3.57 million month-over-month in February. The employment rate remained unchanged at 46.6% while the number of employed people surged by 90,000 to 30 million in the same period. The labor force participation rate stood at 52.2%, dropping by 0.2 percentage points from January. Some 33.58 million people made up the labor force in February, a decrease of 87,000 workers compared to the previous month.