Turkey's unemployment rate stood at 14.7% in February this year, the country's statistical authority announced Wednesday.
TurkStat said the unemployment rate rose by 4.1 percentage points on a yearly basis.
The number of unemployed aged 15 years and older increased by 1.37 million year-on-year to 4.73 million in February.
"In the same period, [the] non-agricultural unemployment rate occurred as 16.9%," TurkStat said, reporting an increase of 4.4 percentage points.
"While youth [the] unemployment rate including persons aged 15-24 was 26.1% with [a] 7.1 percentage point increase, the unemployment rate for persons aged 15-64 occurred as 15.0% with [a] 4.1 percentage point increase," it added.
In January, the country's unemployment rate was also 14.7% with 4.67 million unemployed persons aged 15 years and above, marking a 3.9 percentage point annual rise.
The number of employed in Turkey had reached 27.3 million as of February.
TurkStat said employment had fallen 811,000 on a yearly basis, bringing the employment rate to 44.8%, a 1.8 percentage point annual decline.
"According to the distribution of employment by sector, 17.1% was employed in agriculture, 19.7% was in industry, 5.4% was in construction and 57.7% was in services," it said.
Recording an annual rise of 564,000, Turkey's labour force totaled nearly 32.1 million people in February, while the labor force participation rate (LFPR) was 52.5%.
In the same month, the LFPR was 71.4% for men and 34% for women.
Official figures also revealed that the rate of unregistered employment -- people working without social security related to their principal occupation -- was 33.5% in February, rising 1.3 percentage points year-on-year.
Last year, the unemployment rate hovered between 9.6% and 13.5%. Over the past five years, the highest figures were seen in January and February this year, while the lowest was in May 2014 with 8.8%.
The institute will release its next report on the subject on June 17.
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
Anadolu Agency