Regional development and labor markets: Araklı case study, problems and suggestions for solution

Regional development includes all activities aimed at activating the resources in a region, encouraging entrepreneurship with incentives, creating employment opportunities in the region, increasing the income level and living standards, and increasing the welfare of the region. Briefly, it can be expressed as increasing the socio-economic opportunities and development level of a region. With regional development, it is aimed to eliminate the imbalances that occur between regions in a country. The concept of regional development, which gained importance after the Second World War, is based on the development of regions with their own internal dynamics and potentials. Accordingly, the underground and surface resources of a region and its geographical location are of great importance. In addition to having tourism, agriculture and trade potentials in a region, factories, state investments and higher education institutions make important contributions to the development of the region. Another important factor in regional development is labour. Accordingly, it is important to examine the relationship between human resources and development in determining the effect of the labour factor on regional development. This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between regional development and labour markets and to examine the role of labour markets in the regional development process. For this purpose, Araklı was examined with its social, economic and geographical dimensions through the survey applied to employers, employees and unemployed people in Araklı district of Trabzon. Suggestions for the determination of the current problems in the labour market, which is one of the obstacles to the development of the district, and the solution of these problems, were presented. In the light of the data obtained as a result of the study, it was determined that the labour market was not used at the optimum level in the regional development of the district. Despite the labour potential in the district, the insufficiency of business areas reveals the problem of unemployment. In addition, there is a lack of vocational training, lack of qualified personnel, and a discrepancy between vacant job positions and education received by labour in the district. In this context, investments to be made in the agriculture and tourism sectors, which have potential in the district, may reduce the unemployment rate. It has been concluded that new investments and vocational training are important in terms of increasing employment in the labour market and ensuring efficiency in employment for the regional development of the district.