Türkiye Works Europe’s Longest Week as Jobless Rate Stays Above OECD Average

By Bosphorus News Economy Desk

Türkiye is working longer than Europe, yet the labour market is still not producing a cleaner employment picture.

New OECD and Eurostat figures put two uncomfortable indicators side by side. The OECD said its unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent in April 2026, while TurkStat figures showed Türkiye's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 8.2 percent in the same month. Eurostat's 2025 working-hours data put the European Union average at 35.9 hours per week. Türkiye was reported at 42.4 hours in the wider Eurostat dataset covering EU, EFTA and candidate countries.

That combination weakens the simple reading that long hours signal economic strength. In Türkiye's case, they sit next to high unemployment, a wide gender gap and weak labour-market absorption.

Longer hours, weaker labour result

Eurostat said people aged 20 to 64 in the EU worked an average of 35.9 hours per week in their main job in 2025, down from 36.9 hours in 2015. Inside the EU, Greece had the longest working week at 39.6 hours, followed by Bulgaria and Poland at 38.7 hours and Lithuania at 38.4 hours.

Türkiye is not part of the EU average, but Eurostat's wider country coverage includes candidate countries. The 42.4-hour figure reported for Türkiye places it above the longest-working EU member states and well above the EU average.

The labour-market outcome does not match that intensity. Türkiye's unemployment rate rose slightly to 8.2 percent in April. Male unemployment stood at 6.8 percent, while female unemployment was 11.0 percent. Youth unemployment reached 14.5 percent, with young women facing the heaviest pressure.

The employment side also softened. TurkStat figures reported by local outlets showed the number of employed people falling by 356,000 in April, while the employment rate declined to 48.1 percent. Labour force participation fell to 52.4 percent.

OECD gap remains

The OECD's April 2026 release showed the bloc-wide unemployment rate stable at 5.0 percent, with 35.1 million unemployed people across OECD countries. The unemployment rate stood at 6.0 percent in the European Union and 6.3 percent in the euro area.

Türkiye's 8.2 percent reading therefore remains far above the OECD average, even as the country records one of the longest working weeks in Europe's wider statistical map.

The OECD also highlighted youth unemployment as a weak point across its members, rising to 11.4 percent in April. Türkiye's youth unemployment rate remains higher than that level, and the gap for young women is especially sharp.

This is where the two data sets become more useful together than apart. Long working weeks may reflect sector structure, low part-time employment, informality, weaker bargaining power and a production model that still leans heavily on labour intensity. They do not, by themselves, show stronger productivity or better job quality.

Growth quality problem

The latest labour data reinforce a wider question already visible in Türkiye's 2026 growth outlook. Bosphorus News has reported that weaker exports, stagnant industry and energy-price risks are narrowing Türkiye's 2026 growth path, with external shocks and weak industrial momentum adding pressure to the economy.

The labour-market figures add another layer to that picture. Long hours are not being matched by stronger employment, higher productivity or a more balanced distribution of work across gender and age groups.

Bosphorus News had also read the OECD outlook from a Türkiye economy perspective as a narrowing policy corridor shaped by slower global growth, inflation pressure and weaker labour-market support. The latest OECD and Eurostat indicators make that corridor look tighter.

The issue is no longer only the unemployment rate. It is the type of work being created, the amount of time required to sustain it, and whether long hours are masking weak productivity rather than solving it.

Women and young workers carry the strain

The gender split is one of the clearest warnings in the April labour-market picture. Türkiye's female unemployment rate of 11.0 percent was far above the male rate of 6.8 percent, while young women faced an even harder position.

That gap points to a labour market where access to stable work remains uneven. It also limits any attempt to present long working hours as a straightforward competitiveness signal.

A country can work longer and still fail to create enough quality jobs. Türkiye's latest figures point to that tension: more hours than Europe's average, but weaker labour-market outcomes than the OECD benchmark.

A productivity warning

The combined OECD and Eurostat picture leaves Türkiye with a difficult message.

Workers are putting in longer hours than their European peers, but unemployment remains above the OECD average, female unemployment remains high and youth unemployment is still a structural weak point. That mix raises questions about productivity, investment quality and the ability of the economy to turn work into durable value.

The numbers do not show a labour market in free fall. They show a labour market working hard without producing enough visible improvement in job quality.

Shorter workweeks in parts of Europe often sit alongside higher productivity, stronger bargaining structures and a larger part-time employment base. Türkiye's longer week tells a different story: hours remain high while the employment outcome stays fragile.

***Sources: OECD, Eurostat, Eurostat Statistics Explained, TurkStat Data Portal, Euronews and Bosphorus News Reporting.