The unemployment rate in Turkey was 13.8% in January, marking a 0.9 percentage point decrease, the country's national statistical body announced Friday.

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said the number of unemployed aged 15 and over fell by 306,000 to 4.36 million year-on-year.

The nonagricultural unemployment rate posted a 1.1% point drop, reaching 15.7%. The employment rate came to 44.%, with a 0.5 percentage point decrease, it said.

Meanwhile, the number of those employed in Turkey reached a total of 27.2 million, rising by 109,000 people in January 2020, compared with the same period of the previous year.

The institute also indicated that the labor force participation rate was 51% with a 1.2 percentage point decrease.

The number of women participating in the workforce fell by 258,000 persons to 10.1 million, while the figure for men increased by 62,000 to 21.5 million in January compared to the same month last year.

Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate between the ages of 15-24 was 24.5% with a 2.2 percentage point decrease in January, compared with the same month last year.

"The rate of neither in employment nor in education was realized as 25.7% with a 0.2 percentage point increase compared to the same month last year," it noted.

Agricultural employment decreased by 242,000, while construction declined by 68,000. However, employment in the industrial sector saw a rise of 257,000, while services surged by 161,000, the institute said.

"According to the distribution of employment by sector; 16.0% are in agriculture, 20.7% in industry, 5.2% in construction and 58.1% in services," it added.