According to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, the number of unemployed people aged 15 and over in Türkiye fell by 106 thousand in August from the previous month to 2 million 740 thousand. The unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage points to 7.8%, down 0.8 percentage points from the same month last year. The rate was calculated at 6.6% for men and 10.1% for women. The unemployment rate among those aged 15-24 fell to 13%, standing at 9.7% for men and 19.4% for women.
Why it matters
The decline in total unemployment does not mean that all segments of the labor market experienced an improvement to the same extent. The fact that rates are higher for women and young people, particularly young women, requires monitoring differences in the distribution of the overall indicator. This picture shows that unemployment needs to be assessed not only by its total number but also by differences between age and gender groups. Since the data do not explain which sectors, regions or forms of work unemployment stems from, they do not by themselves offer a conclusion about the nature of the decline or the permanence of the change in employment. Therefore, the August indicator presents a limited snapshot that requires tracking the divergence between groups alongside the overall rate.