Türkiye’s unemployment rate hits 11-year low at 8.4% in May

Türkiye’s unemployment rate fell to 8.4% in May, marking the lowest level since November 2012, according to the latest figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

This improvement reflects a slight decrease from April’s rate of 8.5% and a significant drop from 9.5% in May 2023.

Unemployment rate drops

• Türkiye’s unemployment rate fell to 8.4% in May, the lowest since November 2012.
• This is a decrease from April’s rate of 8.5% and from 9.5% in May 2023.

Employment increases

• The number of unemployed individuals decreased by 27,000, totaling 3.01 million.
• Employment increased by 273,000, bringing the total number of employed persons to 32.9 million.
• The employment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points to 50%.

Gender disparities

• The unemployment rate for men was 7.0%.
• For women, the unemployment rate was higher at 11.0%.

Youth unemployment

• The youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24) rose slightly by 0.3 percentage points to 15.0%.
  • Youth unemployment for men was 12.8%.
  • Youth unemployment for women was 19.3%.

Labor force participation

• The labor force participation rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 54.5%.
  • The total labor force was 35.9 million.
  • The participation rate for men was 72.4%.
  • The participation rate for women was 37.1%.

The average weekly working hours decreased slightly by 0.3 to 43.9 hours. The underutilized labor force rate, which includes time-related underemployment, potential labor force, and unemployed individuals, dropped by 2.0 percentage points to 25.2%.