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Türkiye’s labor market showed signs of strain in April, with the national unemployment rate climbing to 8.6%, up from 7.9% in March, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Friday.
The total number of unemployed individuals aged 15 and older rose by 203,000 month-on-month, reaching 3.06 million. The jobless rate stood at 7.1% among men and 11.5% among women.
These figures follow strong results in March, which recorded the lowest unemployment rate in the past 20 years.
The country also experienced a notable drop in employment. The number of employed persons fell by 316,000, lowering the total to 32.36 million in April. This marks the highest monthly job loss in the period since June 2024, according to the data.
As a result, the employment rate declined by 0.5 percentage points to 48.8%, with a significant gender gap: 65.8% for men and 32.2% for women.
The labor force shrank by 114,000 people over the same period, bringing the total to 35.42 million. The labor force participation rate stood at 53.4%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous month. Among men, participation was recorded at 70.9%, while among women it was significantly lower at 36.4%.
These figures are based on seasonally adjusted data, which accounts for regular fluctuations to allow better comparison across months.
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