Türkiye’s unemployment rate rose to 8.4 percent in September 2026, up 0.5 percentage points from the previous month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported. The number of unemployed persons aged 15 and over climbed by 198,000 to reach 2,967,000.
Jobless numbers widen
The unemployment rate for men stood at 6.9 percent, while the rate for women was higher at 11.3 percent. Youth unemployment, covering those aged 15 to 24, rose by 1.6 percentage points to a seasonally adjusted 14.8 percent, with the rate for young men at 10.4 percent against 23.3 percent for young women.
Employment moved in the opposite direction. The number of employed persons fell month on month, and the seasonally adjusted employment rate came in at 48.3 percent, with men at 65.8 percent and women at 31.2 percent. The labour force itself grew, pushing the seasonally adjusted participation rate to 52.7 percent, made up of 70.7 percent for men and 35.2 percent for women.
Working hours and underutilisation
Average weekly actual working hours of the employed, seasonally and calendar adjusted, edged down to 42.4 hours. The seasonally and calendar adjusted labour underutilisation rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 31.2 percent, a broader gauge that combines time-related underemployment with the unemployed and the potential labour force.
Within that composite figure, the combined rate of time-related underemployment and unemployment stood at 20.5 percent, while the combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force came to 20.7 percent. Separately, the US unemployment rate stood at 4.2 percent in September, its highest level in 31 days by our data.
Related: China's youth jobless rate Eases to 18.0% in September · UK Inflation Rate Hits 3.5% in September
Source: TurkStat | Data: FRED — St. Louis Fed
