ISTANBUL 

The unemployment rate in Türkiye was 8.5% in October, the lowest level since November 2012, the country's statistical office said on Monday.

The number of unemployed people – aged 15 years old and over – dropped by 163,000 to 2.96 million year-on-year in November, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

The unemployment rate dropped by 0.5 percentage points on a monthly basis.

In November 2012, the rate was 8.4%.

The number of employed persons rose by 246,000 to 31.8 million in October, compared to the previous month.

"The employment rate was 48.5%, increasing by 0.3 percentage points ... 65.8% for men, 31.6% for women," it added.