The unemployment rate in Türkiye eased in July compared to a month earlier, official data shared by the country’s statistical authority showed on Tuesday.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate realized as 8.8%, down 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.
This rate was estimated at 7% for men and 12.4% for women, it added.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said labor indicators are in line with the targets set out in the country’s government’s Medium-Term Program (MTP).
Updated forecasts of the program, unveiled last week, see the jobless rate reaching 9.3% by the end of this year. That marked a downward revision from 10.3% estimated last September.
The rate is predicted to stand at 9.6% in 2025 and 9.2% in 2026 before falling to 8.8% in 2027.
Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan said the government would maintain its determination to combat unemployment.
“We continue to see positive results from our employment-friendly policies. The unemployment rate has remained in single digits for the past 15 months,” Işıkhan wrote on social media platform X.
The unemployment rate stood at 9.3% in July last year.
The number of unemployed persons aged 15 years old and over decreased by 112,000 to 3.16 million in July compared to the previous month.
Meanwhile, the number of employed persons increased by 235,000 month-over-month to 32.71 million, according to TurkStat.
The employment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 49.6%.
Şimşek said employment increased by approximately 600,000 people in the first seven months of the year amid the balancing in the economy.
Işıkhan attributed the increase to steps he says the government has taken to strengthen the labor market.
“Our labor force increased by 123,000 from the previous month, reaching 35.9 million,” said the minister.
The labor force participation rate was 54.4%, rising by 0.1 percentage point.
The youth unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group was 16.6%, decreasing by 1 percentage point compared to the previous month.
