(MENAFN) Turkey’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.6% in September, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). This figure indicates that there was no significant change in the overall unemployment rate from the previous month. However, the number of unemployed rose by 35,000 since August, reaching a total of 3.1 million people in September. Despite the stable unemployment rate, this slight increase in the number of unemployed reflects the ongoing challenges in work in the market, many people continue to face difficulties in finding a job.

The unemployment rate also showed some gender-specific trends. For men, the unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 6.7 percent in September from 7 percent in August. In contrast, the female unemployment rate increased by 0.7 percentage points to 12.3 percent. This increase among women highlights the existing gender disparities in Turkey’s labor market, where women continue to face higher unemployment rates compared to men. The data point to structural challenges that still need to be addressed to achieve greater gender equity in employment opportunities.

On the labor force side, the labor force participation rate rose modestly to 54.4 percent in September from 54.2 percent in August. This suggests that a slightly higher proportion of the working-age population was actively looking for or entering work during this period. In addition, the occupancy rate also saw a slight improvement, increasing by 0.1 percentage points to 49.7 percent. This indicates that of Turkey’s working-age population, 32.8 million people were employed, showing a small but positive employment trend despite rising unemployment.

Youth unemployment, which refers to people aged 15 to 24, rose slightly by 0.3 percentage points to 17.1 percent in September. This marks a worrying trend, as youth unemployment is often seen as a key indicator of the health of an economy’s labor market. The unemployment rate for young men was 13.5 percent, while for young women, it was considerably higher at 24 percent. This significant gap between male and female unemployment underlines the ongoing challenges young women face in entering the workforce and the need for specific policies to address these disparities.