Türkiye’s unemployment rate edges down to 8.2 percent in first quarter

ANKARA

 Türkiye’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ticked down by 0.1 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 8.2 percent in the first quarter of 2026, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) released on May 18.

The number of unemployed individuals aged 15 and older decreased by 52,000 compared to the final quarter of 2025, falling to 2.89 million people during the January-March period.

The unemployment rate recorded at 6.8 percent for men and at 11.1 percent for women.
The country’s labor force participation rate dropped by 0.7 percentage points to 52.6 percent in the first quarter. By gender, the labor force participation rate stood at 70.5 percent for men, while the rate for women was estimated at 35.2 percent.

The youth unemployment rate, among those aged 15-24, was 15.2 percent, unchanged from the previous quarter. The unemployment rate in this age group is estimated at 12.6 percent for men and 20.4 percent for women

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, employment fell across all major industries, led by the services sector, which shed 189,000 workers. Employment in construction decreased by 48,000 persons, followed by agriculture with a decline of 44,000 persons and the industrial sector with a reduction of 20,000 persons.

In terms of the overall distribution of employment by sector, services continued to hold the largest share at 59.3 percent, followed by industry at 20.2 percent, agriculture at 13.8 percent and construction at 6.7 percent.