Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
The unemployment rate remained slightly above 8% in the first quarter of the year, according to TurkStat — yet independent surveys drawing on the same data continue to challenge the official picture.
Broadly defined unemployment in Turkey has climbed close to 12 million, according to a December 2025 report by DİSK-AR, the research branch of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey.
With the youth unemployment rate above 25 percent, Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan characterized jobless young people as the “other side” and blamed them for making “excuses” instead of accepting available jobs, stating that they suffer from a “perception disorder.”
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s (TurkStat) Household Labor Force Survey, unemployment increased in the second quarter of 2025 while overall employment declined.