Turkey's unemployment rate edged down to 10.6 percent in the July-September period from 10.7 percent a month earlier and compared with 11.3 percent a year earlier, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) showed on Wednesday. The non-agricultural unemployment rate stood at 12.8 percent on average during the July-September period, data from TUIK showed, down from 13.0 percent a month earlier and 13.7 percent a year earlier.
Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said the government was working to bring unemployment down to single digits, after it hit a seven-year peak of 13 percent at the start of the year. "Since 2007, Turkey has employed 940,000 citizens annually and yet unemployment stands at 10.6 percent. We need to carry out reforms in order to bring unemployment down to single digits," Simsek said a conference in Istanbul.
The government's three-year medium-term programme, which it renews each year, forecast unemployment at 10.8 percent in 2017, 10.5 percent in 2018 and dipping to single digits in 2019 and 2020.
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