Economy

Türkiye's unemployment in 2025 down to 8.3%, its lowest level in 21 years

Number of jobless falls slightly by 147,000 to 2.73M year-on-year

Mucahithan Avcioglu  | 25.03.2026 - Update : 25.03.2026
Türkiye's unemployment in 2025 down to 8.3%, its lowest level in 21 years

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s unemployment rate last year fell to a historic low of 8.3%, dropping to its lowest level in 21 years, the country’s statistical authority said Wednesday.

The rate was down by 0.4 percentage points from the previous year, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

The number of unemployed people age 15 and over in 2025 was down by 147,000 to 2.96 million.

Joblessness stood at 6.8% among men and 11.3% among women in the same period.

Meanwhile, employment also declined, with 54,000 fewer people working, bringing the total number of employed to 32.56 million.

The overall employment rate was down to 49%, including 66.4% for men and 32.1% for women.

The labor force also shrank by 200,000 to 35.53 million, with the participation rate at 53.5%.

Youth unemployment -- covering those age 15 to 24 -- fell 1 percentage point from 2024 to 15.3% last year. It was 11.7% for men and 22.1% for women.

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