A country of 13 million unemployed

The economic program that failed to meet its targets, the heavy toll of high interest rates and high inflation, accelerated the loss of employment, especially in industry. While Türkiye's leading giant brands made decisions to lay off thousands of their employees, 2.2 million people lost their jobs in the last year, and the real number of unemployed people reached 13 million.

EMPLOYMENT DECREASED

According to the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), the number of unemployed people increased by 203 thousand in April 2025 compared to the previous month, reaching 3 million 63 thousand people. The unemployment rate increased by 0.6 points to 8.6 percent. There was also a decline in employment, with the number of employed people decreasing by 316 thousand people in April, falling to 32 million 359 thousand.

The idle labor force rate, which is a broadly defined unemployment rate announced by TÜİK, increased by 3.4 points in April compared to the previous month and reached 32.2 percent.

136 MONTHS RECORD

The report prepared by the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey Research Center (DİSK-AR) stated that the real unemployment rate is based on 13 million, and said, “The annual increase is 2.2 million. The highest unemployment rate and number of unemployed people ever calculated in Türkiye. This has not been seen even during the pandemic period.”

The report noted that the broadly defined unemployment rate of 32.2 percent, covering 13 million people, was at its highest level since January 2014, and that the broadly defined unemployment rate of 32.2 percent broke the record of the last 136 months.

The report stated that 1.2 million people were considered truly unemployed in a month and 2.2 million in the last year, while the number of truly unemployed people peaked during the pandemic period at 12.3 million.

4 out of 10 women are unemployed

According to TÜİK data, the labor force decreased by 114 thousand people compared to the previous month in April 2025, reaching 35 million 421 thousand people, while the unemployment rate was estimated as 7.1 percent for men and 11.5 percent for women. In contrast to TÜİK data, real unemployment data indicates that there is a great loss in women's employment in particular. According to the DİSK-AR report, while broadly defined unemployment was calculated as 27.5 percent for men and 40 percent for women, the difference between broadly defined female unemployment and broadly defined male unemployment reached 12.5 points.

The situation is worrying

Economists who interpreted the data drew attention to the heavy toll of the economic program. Economist Prof. Dr. Hayri Kozanoğlu said, “While economic growth was being discussed, it was announced that the idle labor rate had risen to a record level of 32.2 percent. The situation is alarming.” Financial Markets Expert İris Cibre commented, “Broadly defined unemployment has risen to 32.2 percent. One in every three people is unemployed. We were saying that the data is not compatible with the field, industrial production, capacity utilization rate is surprising. This is data compatible with the field.”