ALGIERS- Algeria's unemployment rate stood at 11.7 percent in September 2018, unchanged from the same month in 2017, the government said on Monday.

But joblessness was up 0.6 percent compared with the 11.1 percent recorded in April 2018, according to dada released by the National Statistics Bureau.

Unemployment among people aged 16 to 24 years rose to 29.1 percent from 26.4 percent in April 2018 and 28.3 percent in September 2017.

Construction employs 16.1 percent of the total workforce, followed by public administration at 15.8 percent and healthcare at 14.4 percent, the statistics bureau said.

Lack of investment and delays in implementing promised reforms has kept Algeria, which relies heavily on oil and gas, from diversifying is economy.

(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed, editing by Larry King) ((hamid.ouldahmed@thomsonreuters.com;))