Türkiye’s unemployment rate last year fell to 8.3 percent, dropping to its lowest level in 21 years, the country’s statistical authority said on March 25.
The rate was down by 0.4 percentage points from the previous year, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).
The number of unemployed people aged 15 and over in 2025 was down by 147,000 to 2.96 million.
Joblessness stood at 6.8 percent among men and 11.3 percent among women in the same period.
Meanwhile, employment also declined, with 54,000 fewer people working, bringing the total number of employed to 32.56 million.
The overall employment rate was down to 49 percent, including 66.4 percent for men and 32.1 percent for women.
The labor force also shrank by 200,000 to 35.53 million, with the participation rate at 53.5 percent.
Youth unemployment, covering those aged 15 to 24, fell 1 percentage point from 2024 to 15.3 percent last year. It was 11.7 percent for men and 22.1 percent for women.
TÜİK data also showed that in 2025, 14 percent of the workforce was employed in agriculture, 20.2 percent in industry, 6.8 percent in construction and 59 percent in services. Compared with the previous year, the share of the services sector rose by 1.1 percentage points, while construction gained 0.2 points. Conversely, agriculture declined by 0.8 points and industry by 0.5 points.
The number of people employed stood at 4.56 million in agriculture, 6.58 million in industry, 2.22 million in construction and 19.20 million in services. Year-on-year, employment in agriculture fell by 267,000 and industry by 168,000, while construction added 62,000 and services expanded by 318,000.
