Efficiency of activities of public employment agency: the case of Kocaeli

The globalization phenomenon that's been experienced through the neo liberal policies pursued since the 1980s, and the rapid technological developments have not only affected the economies but also the functioning of the labor markets. With this transformation, the high unemployment rate has become a priority issue that needs to be adressed among both the developing and the developed countries. In order to solve the high unemployment problem, the countries have been implementing macroeconomic policies meanwhile also restructuring the Public Employment Institutions according to the changing circumstances; thus moving these institutions out of the classical matching and job placement activities. In the light of these developments, the drastic increase in the activities undertaken by these institutions and in the resources managed and used by them, makes it imperative to regulate the efficiency of their activities. In this study, the efficiency of ISKUR's activities is analyzed through the examples of Kocaeli Provincial Directorate of Labor and Employment Agency among the employment policies implemented in our country. In our study, while evaluating the efficiency of ISKUR's activities, mainly active employment policy activities such as job placement and manpower training activities are adressed; as well as passive employment policy activities like unemployment insurance and wage guarantee fund services. The efficiency of the institution's activities; some of them being correctly and efficiently informing people who are looking for a job through its advisory services, reducing the duration of unemployment through matching and job placement activities, making it easier for people to rejoin the workforce by vocational training services, and in the case of unemployment attenuating the negative impact of unemployment by means of unemployment benefits and wage guarantee fund, are evaluated based on the data belonging to 2008-2017 years and some suggestions are made regarding the detected shortcomings.