Evaluating higher education in the context of the relationship between education and employment

The relationship between education and employment has started mainly to meet the needs and desires of the individuals. However, the changes in the production process under the influence of technological developments in recent years have made the relationship between education and employment more important. Qualified labor force is usually composed of people who have received training. People with having university education are called as qualified labor force. However, while university graduates are so important in labor force and employment, the young people in our country as well as the educated people that can be considered as qualified labor force are recognized not to be employed sufficiently. In particular, as there are not so many young and qualified people in developed countries, these countries try to supply this deficit through labor force transfer. However it is unreasonable that the developing countries such as Turkey are not aware of the value of this factor they already have had. This study aims to determine the extent of the relationship between education and employment in terms of public and private sectors. As a survey method, the survey was applied to 253 students and 111 lectures at Fırat University, 109 participants working at private and 104 working at public sectors in Elazığ through random sampling which is one of the methods of improbability. Here are certain findings of the study: • Students who are still studying at the university were recognized that they are pessimistic about employment opportunities after graduation. • There were meaningful differences between the opinions of lectures in certain items of the scale concerning both employment and the competency of education in public and private sectors in terms of gender, faculty, department, age and title variables. • It was identified that at private sector employers don't care about diplomas and at public sector diplomas are of importance only during recruitment. There search results showed once more that curriculum must be renewed regarding the requirements of business life and the individuals' expectations. It is recommended that as the applications at university were not sufficient for the business life, courses including applications should be revised. Higher education programs should be supported for a qualified and competitive labor force. Education is to be taken into consideration primarily in the employments of public and private sectors. The factors except education should not be regarded more than education. The staff needed for public and private sectors should be supplied with educated people. Curriculum should be developed as to keep face with technological developments. Keywords: education, employment, labor force, unemployment, employment outlook in Turkey.