The problem of employment of SMEs: The case of Tokat province

Employment and unemployment draw attention as some of the most important issues nowadays. Therefore, SMEs are supported through a number of practices and incentives to increase employment and employment problems are made subject of discussion. From this point of view, the aim of this study is to reveal the problems faced by SMEs in the province of Tokat in terms of employment. In addition to this main objective, other problems faced by SMEs are mentioned. This research, which aims to reveal the problems of SMEs in terms of employment, was planned to be done according to the descriptive survey model and the questionnaire developed by the researcher was used as a data collection tool. The obtained data were analyzed on basis of frequency and percentage values, and open ended questions were analyzed by content analysis method. As a result of the research made on the SMEs of Tokat province Central District, it was found that they have similar characteristics with the general characteristics of the SMEs in Turkey. In addition to the fact that they are mainly micro-sized SMEs, it is concluded that the firms' owners or partners are mostly male entrepreneurs. Although it is seen that SMEs are not benefiting from more than half of the support and incentives granted by public and private institutions and organizations that represent a main importance for them, the rate of those who do not find support and incentives sufficient is more than 60%. At this point, it is seen that one of the reasons for non benefiting from such incentives are bureaucratic obstacles encountered by them and another reason are the requirements for benefiting from them, which are found difficult to be fulfilled by them. The ratio of those who find the labor force through their own efforts is higher than those who benefit from the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR). This result is important in terms of questioning the effectiveness of activities of the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR), which is the first institution that comes to mind when it comes to employment issues. The fact that SMEs are significant actors in many economic aspects, from employment to value added, from production to export, make the problems they face important either for Tokat Province or for the national economy. The increase of the number of incentives offered, the revision of the tax system, the reorganization of the education system in such a way to meet the expectations of the affected parties, the evaluation of "how effective?" the incentives and support not emphasized too much are, in other words, the urgent questioning on "how much the control mechanism works" are some of the results obtained from this study.