Unemployment rate in Istanbul stood at 8.9 pct last year

ISTANBUL

The unemployment rate in Istanbul, Türkiye’s most populous city and its financial and commercial capital, was 8.9 percent in 2023 when the jobless rate across the country stood at 9.4 percent.

In the capital Ankara and the western province of İzmir, the third largest city, the unemployment rates were 11.2 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.

The employment rates were 51.9 percent in Istanbul and 48.5 percent in Ankara, whereas it was 47.9 percent for İzmir.

The nationwide employment rate was 48.3 percent, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

The labor participation rate, which was 53.3 percent in Türkiye, was 57 percent in Istanbul, 54.6 percent in Ankara and 54.1 percent in İzmir.

The southeastern province of Hakkari had the largest unemployment rate at 23.3 percent, followed by the eastern province of Van at 19.1 percent and the southern province of Osmaniye at 16.7 percent.

In Hatay, one of the cities that suffered largely from the devastating earthquakes in early February last year, the jobless rate was 15.6 percent, according to TÜİK data.

The Black Sea province of Sinop had the lowest jobless rate at 4.8 percent last year. The unemployment rates in the northern province of Kastamonu and the province of Burdur were 4.9 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively.

The latest numbers of TÜİK showed that the unemployment rate in Türkiye declined for a second month in a row in May.

The unemployment rate inched down from 8.5 percent in April to 8.4 in May.

The number of unemployed people fell by 27,000 monthly to a little more than 3 million as of May, TÜİK said.