Effectiveness of vocational education courses on employment: Antalya case

Unemployment is one of the major problems for both the developed and developing countries. Employment policies have an important role in the development and growth of countries. These policies sought solutions to the problem of unemployment. Since the Great Depression, several measures for unemployment have tried to be taken. The employment policies divide into two as passive and active employment policies. Passive policies could not be sufficient to stem unemployment after the 1970s. Therefore, many countries have headed to active employment policies. In Turkey, the active employment policies have began to be implemented largely with the EU and the OECD grants since the 1990s. İSKUR, being the most active institution, is the leading for implementation of the active employment policy programs in Turkey.Implemented programs within the scope of active employment policies are very diverse and comprehensive. However, the contribution of these programs that are being applied to the social welfare can not be measured exactly. Measuring this contribution will give rise the more effectively usage of the investment and expenditure made for the programs.Vocational education has an important role in these programs and training in almost all the professions is provided in Turkey. Participation to vocational education programs increasing with each passing day along with trying to increase interest in vocational training through either public spotlight or other announcements by the government. The aim of the study, is to evaluate the effectiveness of vocational education courses that have been applied to tourism in the province of Antalya. In this context, basic features of passive and active policies were determined in this study. Also the labor market interventions have been investigated. In this study, a survey has been conducted to individuals who have participated in and not participated in vocational training course in Antalya. The survey results have been presented as descriptively. In addition, econometric analyses have been applied involving employability and wages.