UPDATE - Turkey: Unemployment rate down in Oct

UPDATES WITH MORE FIGURES

By Yunus Girgin

ANKARA (AA) - The unemployment rate in Turkey was 12.7% in October, falling 0.7 percentage points year-on-year, the country's statistical institute announced Monday.

The number of unemployed people aged 15 and over decreased by 391,000 to just over 4 million as of October compared to the same month last year, according to TurkStat, adding that the youth unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group fell to 24.9%, with a 0.4-percentage-point decrease.

The non-agricultural unemployment rate also fell by 0.9 percentage point to 14.8% year-on-year during the same month.

Meanwhile, employment was recorded at 43.6% with a 2.3-percentage-point annual decrease.

In September, the country's unemployment rate was also 12.7%.

The distribution of employment by sector was 55.7% in the services sector, 20.3% in industry, 17.6% in agriculture, and 6.4% in construction, according to TurkStat data.

The labor force participation rate went down by 3 percentage points year-on-year to 50%.

Turkey's labor force decreased by 1.28 million year-on-year to 31.45 million as of October.

The labor force participation rate for men dropped by 2.9 percentage points to 69%, while it stood at 31.3% for women after an annual decline of 3.3 percentage points.

The rate of unregistered employment – people working without social security related to their principal occupation – was 31% in October, down by 3.9 percentage points on a yearly basis.