عاشق تركيا
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News summary — labour-market figures reported in 2025
Türkiye’s headline unemployment figures showed improvement during 2024–2025, but broader measures revealed continuing weaknesses in the labour market.
The headline unemployment rate was around 8–8.5% in early 2025. For example, TURKSTAT’s January release reported a seasonally adjusted rate of 8.4%. The September release later reported 8.6%.
These figures were substantially below the levels seen in 2019. The February 2019 release, for example, recorded 14.7% before seasonal adjustment and 13.6% after adjustment. The distinction matters: an unadjusted historical peak should not be treated as a directly comparable seasonally adjusted figure.
The broader measure includes more than people counted as unemployed. Its components are:
People who are unemployed.
The potential labour force, which can include people who want work but do not meet all the active-search and availability criteria for headline unemployment, including some discouraged jobseekers.
Time-related underemployment: people working fewer hours than they want who are available to work more.
TURKSTAT reported a seasonally adjusted labour underutilisation rate of 28.6% in September 2025, down 1.2 percentage points from the previous month. This broader indicator is not a measure of informal employment, and its components cannot be reduced to part-time workers alone.
Women’s labour-force participation remained well below men’s. Family responsibilities and unpaid care can limit opportunities to enter paid work, although they do not explain every individual’s circumstances.
Barriers to participation matter for:
Economic participation.
Household income.
Long-term growth potential.
Lower headline unemployment is encouraging, but that figure alone does not describe the whole labour market.
High labour underutilisation points to continuing challenges, including:
Pressure on household earnings where people cannot obtain enough paid work.
The search for better opportunities, including among young people considering jobs in Türkiye or abroad. The statistics alone do not establish how many intend to move overseas.
Historical context: this article discusses statistics published in 2025, not the current unemployment rate. Percentage-point changes describe differences between rates: a decline of 1.2 percentage points is not a relative decline of 1.2%.
Related topics
Türkiye’s headline unemployment figures showed improvement during 2024–2025, but broader measures revealed continuing weaknesses in the labour market.
Headline unemployment
The headline unemployment rate was around 8–8.5% in early 2025. For example, TURKSTAT’s January release reported a seasonally adjusted rate of 8.4%. The September release later reported 8.6%.These figures were substantially below the levels seen in 2019. The February 2019 release, for example, recorded 14.7% before seasonal adjustment and 13.6% after adjustment. The distinction matters: an unadjusted historical peak should not be treated as a directly comparable seasonally adjusted figure.
The broader measure: labour underutilisation
The broader measure includes more than people counted as unemployed. Its components are:People who are unemployed.
The potential labour force, which can include people who want work but do not meet all the active-search and availability criteria for headline unemployment, including some discouraged jobseekers.
Time-related underemployment: people working fewer hours than they want who are available to work more.
TURKSTAT reported a seasonally adjusted labour underutilisation rate of 28.6% in September 2025, down 1.2 percentage points from the previous month. This broader indicator is not a measure of informal employment, and its components cannot be reduced to part-time workers alone.
Women’s participation in the labour market
Women’s labour-force participation remained well below men’s. Family responsibilities and unpaid care can limit opportunities to enter paid work, although they do not explain every individual’s circumstances.Barriers to participation matter for:
Economic participation.
Household income.
Long-term growth potential.
How to read these figures
Lower headline unemployment is encouraging, but that figure alone does not describe the whole labour market.High labour underutilisation points to continuing challenges, including:
Pressure on household earnings where people cannot obtain enough paid work.
The search for better opportunities, including among young people considering jobs in Türkiye or abroad. The statistics alone do not establish how many intend to move overseas.
Historical context: this article discusses statistics published in 2025, not the current unemployment rate. Percentage-point changes describe differences between rates: a decline of 1.2 percentage points is not a relative decline of 1.2%.
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