CHP’s Karatepe: It’s Not Unemployment Falling—It’s Hope!

CHP’s Karatepe Slams Official Data: “It’s Not Unemployment Declining, It’s People Giving Up”

Yalçın Karatepe, Deputy Chair of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in charge of Treasury and Finance, strongly criticized the unemployment figures released by TurkStat and the accompanying remarks from Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan. Drawing attention to the broad unemployment rate of 28.5%, Karatepe said: “Calling silence success, calling poverty employment—this isn’t governance, it’s mocking the people.”

CHP/Karatepe

“The People Are Looking for Work—You’re Looking in the Mirror”

Karatepe dismissed Işıkhan’s claim that Turkey is seeing “the lowest unemployment rate in 25 years,” calling it a politically motivated illusion detached from reality:

“The data from TurkStat doesn’t conceal the collapse of the labor market—it reveals it. According to the same report, the broad unemployment rate stands at 28.5%. This means one in three people in Turkey is either unemployed, underemployed, or has given up on looking for work and thus is no longer counted in official statistics. To spin this into a story of ‘historic success’ is to openly insult the public’s intelligence.”

Women and Youth Sidelined Further

Karatepe underlined key weaknesses in the labor market:

• 266,000 fewer people are employed than before,

• Labor force participation dropped by 0.8 percentage points,

• Women’s labor force participation fell to 36%,

• 171,000 agricultural workers and 61,000 industrial workers lost their jobs.

“These figures clearly show that there is no real employment policy in Turkey. The government is merely trying to ‘hide’ unemployment by narrowing statistical definitions,” he said.

“The Voice of the Jobseeker Is Being Silenced”

Karatepe stated that millions of people who want to work are being pushed out of the system:

“Women, youth, the less educated, and those in disadvantaged regions have almost no access to employment. The real sector can’t access credit, small businesses are closing, public hiring is shrinking, and employment in government is based on political loyalty. The state has withdrawn from job creation and left the labor market adrift.”

He also criticized the government for using distorted unemployment data to weaken social security systems, limit unemployment benefits, and normalize job insecurity:

“What they call ‘idle labor force’ is in reality a quiet social collapse. This isn’t just an economic failure; it’s a deliberate project of engineered inequality.”

CHP’s Alternative Economic Vision

Karatepe explained CHP’s approach to building an inclusive, employment-focused economy:

“We will not rely on short-term incentives but on strategic investments, quality education, sectoral employment guarantees, and regional development programs. Every citizen has a right to decent work—and we will ensure it.”

He concluded with a call for early elections, not just as a political solution but as a social necessity:

“Unemployment, job insecurity, and social collapse demand a democratic reckoning. That reckoning must come at the ballot box.”

What Did Minister Işıkhan Say?

Labor Minister Vedat Işıkhan had claimed that the unemployment rate dropped to 8.2%, with 183,000 fewer unemployed people in Q1 2025. He also stated that unemployment among youth declined by 0.9 percentage points to 15%, and praised government employment programs for integrating women, youth, and disadvantaged groups into the workforce.

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