The conclusion of the tourism season, coupled with the loss of 133,300 jobs in the tourism and food service sectors, led to the second-worst October for the domestic labor market in 23 years, according to data from the Labor Ministry’s “Ergani” database.
Overall, the labor market experienced a negative trend, with layoffs exceeding hirings, as the ‘Ergani’ system recorded a net loss of 131,491 jobs. This marks the third consecutive year of significant October job losses. In October 2023, a record high of 131,496 jobs were lost, while October 2022 also saw substantial losses, with 115,856 jobs eliminated.
A negative balance of dismissals over hirings is typical in October, coinciding with the conclusion of the summer tourism season. Unsurprisingly, the sectors with the highest layoffs – and therefore the most negative employment balances – were accommodation, which saw 84,351 job losses, and food service, with 48,949 job losses.”
Rounding out the top five activities with the highest job losses are retail trade, which recorded 7,922 job losses, rental and leasing with 4,099, and travel agencies with 3,608.
Conversely, the sector with the highest number of new jobs created last October was education, which added 23,114 positions for teaching staff, including professors, schoolteachers, and foreign language instructors, reflecting the ongoing start of the academic year. Overall, in October 2024, there were 291,728 hirings compared to 423,209 layoffs
The employment balance for the first 10 months of the year remains positive, with 171,253 new jobs created. However, this figure is 9,363 fewer than the 180,616 jobs recorded during the same period in 2023.
It is concerning that, as in September, full-time contracts in October saw a significant decline compared to more flexible forms of employment. Of the 291,718 total hires in October, only 46.18% – or 134,701 – were full-time positions.
The remaining 157,017 hires (53.82%) were for flexible forms of employment. These included 128,210 part-time contracts, accounting for 43.95%, and 28,807 work rotation contracts, making up 9.87%.
The employment balance was negative both for men (-69,037) and for women (-62,454), and across all age groups.
