ANKARA
The unemployment rate in Turkey rose 0.2 percentage points last year from 2013, the Turkish Statistical Institute said in a statement on Friday.
The number of unemployed persons aged 15 years old and over rose to 2.85 million in 2014, and the unemployment rate was 9.9 percent, the statement said.
The unemployment rate was 9.7 percent in 2013 with 2.75 million people seeking jobs, up from 9.2 percent in 2012.
The unemployment rate for men was 9 percent, while it was 11.9 percent for women.
Also youth unemployment, a chronic challenge for Turkey with its predominantly young population, rose sharply to 18.7 percent in 2014 from 17.9 percent a year earlier.
Despite the slight rise in the unemployment rate, there are more than 1.7 million unoccupied positions for job seekers in the country, according to data from the official Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR).
Over one million of these positions are for qualified workers. Some 43 percent of the 1.7 million empty positions are for unqualified jobs.
