During the 2000s, despite rapid growth and a significant surge in exports, Turkish economy could not generate jobs at the desired rate. Open unemployment rate, which stood at 6.5% in 2000, has jumped to 10.3% in 2002 in the aftermath of the February 2001
financial crisis. Since then the Turkish gross domestic product has increased by a cumulative 30% in real terms. Yet, employment generation capacity of this rapid growth had been dismal, and the open unemployment rate could not be brought down below 9% by
the end-of 2007, just before the eruption of the current global economic crisis. Despite rapid expansion of production in many sectors, civilian employment increased sluggishly at best, and labour participation remained below its levels as observed during the 1990s.
Currently (as of April 2009) open unemployment rate stands at 14.9%, one of the highest among the OECD countries.