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University graduates swell Turkey’s army of jobless

More than a fourth of Turkey’s 4.7 million unemployed are graduates of higher education — an alarming trend that reflects not only the country’s economic downturn, but its faltering university system.
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan poses with students during a graduation ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, June 11, 2015. President Erdogan on Thursday urged the country's political parties to work quickly to form a new government, saying egos should be left aside and that history would judge anyone who left Turkey in limbo. In his first public appearance since Sunday's parliamentary election, Erdogan said no political development should be allowed to threaten Turkey's gains. He said he would do his part in find
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Mounting unemployment has emerged as the most poignant aspect of Turkey’s economic crisis, which the International Monetary Fund expects to result in a 2.5% contraction this year. The number of jobless reached nearly 4.7 million in January, rising by more than 1.2 million over a year, according to figures released April 15 by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). This puts the unemployment rate at 14.7%, an increase of 4 percentage points from the same period last year. Non-agricultural unemployment rose 4.1 percentage points to hit 16.8%. The jobless rate among young people aged 15-24 is even more alarming, climbing 6.8 percentage points to nearly 27%.

Remarkably, a breakdown by education shows that more than a fourth of the 4.7 million jobless hold higher education degrees.

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