Turkey: Unemployment rises to 12.6 pct in February

ANKARA (AA) - Unemployment in Turkey rose 1.7 percentage points in February compared to the same month last year but fell 0.4 percentage points from January, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Monday.

The number of jobless in the country age 15 and over climbed to nearly 4 million in February 2017, a rise of 676,000 from February 2016, when the unemployment rate stood at 10.9 percent, the statement said.

The rate saw a 0.4 percentage point drop from January 2017, according to TurkStat.

February's employment rate stood at 45.3 percent and remained unchanged from the same period last year, with the country adding a half-million jobs.

The labor force participation rate was also up by 1 percentage points year-on-year, going up to 51.8 percent.

The number of women participating in the workforce climbed 1.2 percentage points from the previous year to 32.3 percent.