Turkey’s labor underutilization reaches pandemic level

Turkey’s broad unemployment rate rose to a record 28.8% in March, the fourth-highest since this data has been recorded since 2014, according to figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TuskStat).

The broad measure of unemployment, termed as labor underutilization, which includes those who have lost hope of finding a job, seasonal workers, and underemployed individuals, marked a 0.3 percentage point increase compared to the previous month.

This level, reflecting more than 11.5 million people, is the highest ever recorded excluding peaks during the pandemic in May 2020 and early 2021, as well as June 2024, when the labor underutilization rate exceeded 29%.

Slight decline in narrow unemployment

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate, which counts individuals actively seeking work and available to start within two weeks, fell by 0.3 percentage points to 7.9%. 

The number of unemployed people under this definition dropped by 65,000 to 2.8 million.

The unemployment rate stood at 6.5% among men and 10.6% among women.

Employment figures

In terms of employment, the number of employed individuals rose by 391,000 compared to the previous month, reaching 32.6 million. The employment rate increased by 0.6 percentage points to 49.2%. Employment among men was estimated at 66.9%, while it was 31.9% among women.

The labor force participation rate rose to 53.4%, with the labor force growing by 325,000 to 35.4 million people. Participation stood at 71.6% for men and 35.7% for women.

Youth unemployment, covering individuals aged 15-24, increased slightly by 0.1 percentage points to 15.1%. In this group, the unemployment rate was estimated at 11% for men and 22.6% for women.

The average actual weekly working hours for employed individuals, adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects, rose by 0.3 hours from the previous month to 43.7 hours. (HA/VK)