The unemployment rate in Türkiye edged up to 8.6% in November, official data showed on Tuesday.

The rate was 0.1 percentage points higher compared to 8.5% in October, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

The labor market still maintains its strong outlook, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said, noting that the unemployment rate has remained in single digits for 31 months.

The number of unemployed people aged 15 and over rose in November by 54,000 to 3.1 million, the TurkStat data showed.

Joblessness in the same period stood at 7% among men and 11.8% among women.

Employment increased by 75,000, bringing the total number of employed to more than 32.7 million.

The overall employment rate was 49.2%, including 66.8% for men and 31.9% for women.

The labor force also climbed by 128,000 to 35.83 million.

The TurkStat data showed the labor force participation rate increased 0.1% to 53.8% in November, while a seasonally adjusted measure of labor under-utilization fell 0.6 percentage points to 29.1%.

Youth unemployment, covering those aged 15 to 24, was unchanged at 15.4% in November. It was 10.6% for men and 24.4% for women.

Yılmaz said the government has prioritized active labor market programs, vocational training, entrepreneurship support and the development of skills needed in strategic sectors, focusing particularly on youth, women, and the qualified workforce, to increase labor participation and enhance the quality of human capital.

He also said they continue to provide more intensive support for employment in labor-intensive sectors.

"Through structural reforms to be implemented in the labor market, we aim to further strengthen employment growth while simultaneously addressing policies to reduce idle labor in a multi-dimensional manner," Yılmaz wrote on the social media platform X.

The government's medium-term program covering the 2026-2028 period envisages the employment to increase by an average of 842,000 people annually and the unemployment rate to gradually decline, reaching 7.8% by 2028.

"In the coming period, within a framework of sustainable and inclusive growth that is compatible with disinflation and supports employment, we aim to increase the purchasing power of our citizens and improve income distribution," said Yılmaz.