Turkey's Statistical Institute (TurkStat) released its September labour force statistics, revealing that the number of unemployed individuals aged 15 and over increased by 198,000 compared to the previous month, reaching 2 million 967 thousand. The unemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points to 8.4%, though it remained 0.1 points lower than the same month last year.
Breaking down the figures by gender, the unemployment rate stood at 6.9% for men and 11.3% for women. Youth unemployment was particularly notable: the rate for the 15–24 age group climbed 1.6 points from the previous month to 14.8%. Among young men the rate was 10.4%, while among young women it reached 23.3%.
Seasonally adjusted data showed that the number of employed persons fell by 49,000 month-on-month to 32 million 445 thousand, pushing the employment rate down 0.1 points to 48.3%. The rate was 65.8% for men and 31.2% for women.
The seasonally adjusted labour force grew by 149,000 to reach 35 million 412 thousand. The labour force participation rate edged up 0.1 points to 52.7%, standing at 70.7% for men and 35.2% for women. The average weekly actual working hours of employed persons in work during the reference period, after seasonal and calendar adjustments, decreased by 0.1 hours to 42.4 hours.
