Turkey's apparel and textile industries lose 116,000 jobs in a year, SGK data show
Turkish apparel and textile manufacturing shed more than 116,000 jobs in the year to September, according to SGK data cited by Türkiye Today. The losses reflect weak global demand, rising costs and growing competition from Egypt, even as total registered employment rose 2.2% to 26.15 million.
Apparel and textile drive the losses
Turkey's labor-intensive manufacturing is shedding jobs, with the apparel and textile industries alone accounting for more than 116,000 layoffs as of September compared with the same month a year earlier, according to Social Security Institution (SGK) data cited by Türkiye Today. The figures come from the Employment Monitoring Bulletin published by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye (TEPAV), which found that 37 of 88 sub-sectors recorded a year-on-year drop in registered wage earners.
Apparel manufacturing posted the sharpest decline, losing 78,825 employees, or 11.8% of its workforce. Textile product manufacturing followed with 37,140 job losses. Both segments are historically export-oriented and labor-intensive, and Türkiye Today attributes the downturn to shrinking global demand, rising labor and input costs, and increasing competition from Egypt.
A broad contraction, not a single sector
The weakness extends well beyond clothing. Office administration and support services shed 28,001 workers, while several sectors recorded steeper proportional declines:
- Information service activities: down 42.3%, the fastest proportional fall
- Water collection and distribution: down 17.4%
- Coal and lignite extraction: down 14.1%
Where employment still grows
Construction, which also leads Turkey's GDP growth, remained the strongest source of new jobs. The largest annual gains came in:
- Building construction: +145,070 workers
- Retail trade: +128,334 workers
- Food and beverage services: +68,175 workers
- Education: +49,089 workers
Human health and social services rose 4.7% year on year and transportation and storage 1.7%, while cultural, entertainment and sports activities gained 8.1% and real estate 13.7%, extending a run of growth since early 2025. Total registered employment, including workers paying the Social Security Support Premium, reached 26.15 million in September, up 2.2% year on year.
Business count and regional concentration
Turkey's number of active businesses rose by 57,821 over the year, up 2.6% to 2.28 million in September. Retail trade added the most establishments at 36,671, followed by household employment activities (15,751), food and beverage services (9,860) and building construction (6,714). Programming and broadcasting activities saw the fastest proportional growth in business numbers at 65%, ahead of household employment at 53.5%.
Istanbul remained the largest business hub with 26.8% of all establishments, followed by Ankara (7.4%), Izmir (6.7%), Antalya (4.5%) and Bursa (4.2%).