In last year, Turkey created as many jobs as all of Europe

Turkey's banner job creation performance as the world emerges from the international economic crisis is drawing widespread admiration. While major economies such as the US, Germany and Japan are continuing to suffer from rising unemployment, Turkey created employment opportunities for 1.8 million people over the last year, equal to jobs created in all of Europe in the same period. Speaking at a meeting held by the Kutahya Chamber of Trade and Industry over the weekend, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek stressed this amazing performance. Stating that that Turkey's quick, strong emergence from the world's worst economic crisis in 80 years was no quirk, Simsek said Turkey broke many records in Europe for economic growth, job creation, and credit ratings in the first quarter of this year with growth of 11.7 percent, second only to China. Stating that Turkey's growth this year is expected to total 5-7 percent, compared to only about 0.6-1.4 percent for European Union countries, Simsek said, "Even if Turkey's economy grows 5 percent this year, this will mean we're catching up with the EU economically." While admitting that unemployment remains high, Simsek added, "Turkey is better positioned than EU countries in terms of exiting the crisis. Unemployment is continuing to rise in EU countries while it falls in Turkey."