Millions have been pushed out of the workforce

Economy Service

The chronic unemployment problem in the country cannot be stopped despite the regime's attempts to cover it up. Millions of people, whom TÜİK does not count as unemployed, are being pushed out of the labour force, while the regime paints a rosy picture in its labour force statistics.

According to data from the TÜİK, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell by 0.8 percentage points to 7.7 per cent in December 2025. The broadly defined unemployment rate, which reflects the real rate, remained close to its pandemic-era peaks at 28.6 per cent. The average weekly actual working time also increased by 0.8 hours to 43.1 hours.

According to TÜİK, the narrowly defined number of unemployed fell by 286,000, while the number of employed fell by 42,000. According to the data, the rate fell not because the unemployed found jobs, but because 328,000 people withdrew from the labour market. While employment did not increase, the segment that TÜİK does not count as unemployed was pushed out of working life.

5.2 MILLION PEOPLE CANNOT FIND WORK

According to TÜİK, the narrowly defined number of unemployed people across the country was 2 million 736 thousand. The number of unemployed people under the broad definition, calculated by DİSK Research Centre (DİSK-AR), was 11 million 593 thousand. The gap between broad and narrow definitions of unemployment is widening. According to calculations by the DİSK-AR, the number of real unemployed people rose to 11 million 593 thousand. The broad definition of unemployment rose by 1.9 million in two years. The annual increase was calculated at 188,000 people. The broad definition of unemployment rate, announced as 28.6%, was 24.5% in December 2023.

The DİSK-AR report stated that the reason for the increase was ‘the rise in the number of broadly defined unemployed persons is due to the increase in the potential labour force, which includes time-related underemployment and discouraged unemployed persons, those who are ready to work but not looking for work, and those who are looking for work but cannot start immediately.’ Accordingly, more people working less than 40 hours per week want to work full-time. The number of people forced into flexibility but wanting full-time work rose by 156,000 in the last year, from 3,519,000 to 3,675,000. The number of potential labour force members also increased by 371,000 over the past year, rising from 4,810,000 to 5,181,000. In other words, 5.2 million people want to work but cannot find a job.

WOMEN OUTSIDE THE LABOUR FORCE

Women, whom the one-man regime's reactionary policies seek to confine to their homes, are being pushed out of the labour force. According to TÜİK, the labour force participation rate in December was 71.3 per cent for men and 35.5 per cent for women. The female labour force declined by 158,000 in one month, from 12,104,000 in November to 11,946,000 in December. Female unemployment remained higher than all other types of unemployment this month, reaching its peak. The actual female unemployment rate was calculated at 38.3%. The narrowly defined unemployment rate among young people was 14.1%, while this rate was 18.2% among young women. 66.8% of men are in the workforce, compared to only 31.7% of women.

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled İstatistik oyunu gerçekleri örtemiyor: Milyonlar çalışma hayatının dışına itildi, published in BirGün newspaper on January , 2026.