357,000 new jobs created in Turkey in 2017: Minister

Some 357,000 new jobs were created between Jan. 1 and March 20 in Turkey, said a top official, adding that the rising unemployment rate would decrease by May or June. 

"By the yearend, the unemployment will drop to single digits," said Labor Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu in a televised interview on Kanal 24, as reported by Reuters on March 21. 

The government aims to create 2 million new jobs through an employment encouragement campaign, which was announced early in February by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

Turkey's unemployment rate hit 12.7 percent in December 2016 - the highest since March 2010 - while youth unemployment stood at 24 percent, official data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed on March 15. 

The unemployment rate saw a rise of 1.9 percent compared to the same month in the previous year, according to TÜİK. Unemployment also saw a 0.6-point increase from the previous month, with an eighth consecutive rise since last August.       

Müezzinoğlu said 125,000 public servants have been dismissed or suspended from their jobs due to their suspected links to the Gülen movement, which is widely believed to have been behind the July 15 coup attempt.