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Türkiye’s quarterly unemployment rate edged up to 8.6%, or 3.03 million, a 0.3 percentage point increase equal to 106,000 individuals, while both youth unemployment and labor underutilization also increased, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported on Tuesday.
TurkStat defines unemployment as individuals aged 15 and older who were not working during the reference period, actively searched for a job within the past four weeks, and were available to begin employment within two weeks.
On an annual basis, the unemployment rate showed a slight decline of 0.1 percentage points.
The rate was measured at 7% for men and 11.6% for women.
Among young people aged 15 to 24, seasonally adjusted unemployment rose by 0.7 percentage points compared with the previous quarter, reaching 15.9%. This increase corresponded to 35,000 more unemployed youth.
The broad measure of labor underutilization—which includes time-related underemployment, potential labor force, and the unemployed—rose sharply by 3.5 percentage points to 32%.
Within this group, the combined rate of underemployed and unemployed individuals was 22.1%, while the combined share of the unemployed and potential labor force stood at 20.2%.
The number of discouraged workers, defined as those available to work but no longer seeking employment due to loss of hope, declined by over 295,000 to 2.41 million.
Meanwhile, the share of young people aged 15 to 34 who were neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) fell by 0.7 percentage points to 27%, representing 6.5 million individuals.
Total employment in Türkiye fell by 41,000 from the previous quarter, bringing the workforce to 32.44 million.
The employment rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 48.9%. Male employment stood at 66.1%, while female employment was 32.1%.
The labor force grew by 65,000 to 35.47 million, keeping the participation rate unchanged at 53.5%. By gender, labor force participation was 71.1% for men and 36.3% for women.
Across sectors, employment declined in both agriculture (down 95,000) and industry (down 156,000), while services added 174,000 jobs and construction increased by 36,000.
The workforce distribution was recorded at 14% in agriculture, 20.3% in industry, 6.8% in construction and 58.9% in services.
The average actual weekly working time, adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects, fell by 1.2 hours compared with the previous quarter to 42.1 hours.
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