The number of people unemployed in Türkiye dropped slightly in January, official data showed Friday.

The unemployment rate fell 0.5 percentage points month-over-month to 9.7%, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

A seasonally adjusted measure of labor underutilization rose 0.6 percentage points to 21.9%, the data showed.

The labor underutilization measure had been on a falling trend since peaking at 29.6% in January 2021 due to the economic fallout from pandemic measures.

The number of unemployed people at least 15 years old decreased by 166,000 on a monthly basis for a reading of 3.4 million, according to TurkStat.

The data showed the labor force participation rate in January rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.1%.

The employment rate was 48.9%, up by 0.5 percentage points. The rate was 66.9% for men and 31.2% for women.

Youth unemployment, covering the 15-24 age group, was at 20.2% in January, up by 0.5 percentage points versus December 2022.