Number of employed university graduates tops 10 million for the first time

ISTANBUL

The number of employed individuals with higher education in Türkiye has surpassed 10 million for the first time.

According to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), the total number of employed people in Türkiye reached 32.43 million as of the second quarter of this year.

While employment decreased by 41,000 compared to the previous quarter, the employment rate was recorded at 48.9 percent.

The number of higher education graduates among the employed has increased over the years.

With the expansion of universities and the introduction of new academic programs, the number of university-educated workers, which stood at 7.7 million at the beginning of 2021, exceeded 9 million by 2023.

As of the second quarter of this year, the number of employed university graduates surpassed 10 million for the first time, reaching 10.03 million.

This figure represents 30.9 percent of the total employed population of 32.4 million, meaning that nearly one in every three workers in the country holds a university degree.

In the second quarter of 2025, the labor force participation rate among individuals with higher education stood at 77.1 percent, with 85.5 percent for men and 68.2 percent for women.

The unemployment rate for this group was 8 percent — 5.6 percent for men and 11.1 percent for women — marking a slight increase from 7.9 percent in the same period last year.

While the number of university graduates among the employed has risen, the number of unemployed individuals with higher education has declined.

Seasonally adjusted unemployment data shows that the total number of unemployed people in the second quarter was 3.03 million, of which 866,000 were higher education graduates.

In the first quarter of the year, the number of unemployed university graduates was recorded at 930,000.

When employment is analyzed by educational attainment, individuals with less than a high school education ranked first.

In this category, the number of employed people in the second quarter was recorded at 13.38 million.

The number of employed high school graduates was calculated at 4.75 million, while 3.75 million workers were graduates of vocational or technical high schools.

The number of employed individuals who are illiterate was determined to be 719,000.