ANKARA - Turkey's unemployment rate rose to 11.3 percent of the workforce in the three months to the end of February from 11.0 percent in the same period last year, official data showed Tuesday.
A survey based on interviews with nearly 86,000 people showed the number of jobless to have increased by 59,000 to 2,567,000, the State Statistics Institute said.
The jobless rate was estimated at 9.9 percent for the whole of 2007, unchanged from the rate for 2006.
To determine the jobless rate, the statistics institute surveys households in different regions of the country and uses the results to make a nationwide three-month projection.
The figures provide the only unemployment data in Turkey, but experts say they do not reflect the overall picture because they exclude undeclared or hidden unemployment, or the employment of educated, qualified people in menial, unqualified jobs.
Unemployment and huge unregistered activity are problems the International Monetary Fund wants Turkey to resolve in order to consolidate its recovery from a severe economic crisis in 2001.
The ruling Justice and Development Party has pledged to focus on microeconomic problems such as unemployment during its second five-year term in power following a landslide win in general elections in July.
han/nh
04/15/2008 07:28 GMT