REVEALING REGIONAL EMPLOYMENT PERFORMANCE: EXPLORING PERSPECTIVES BEYOND TRADITIONAL GROWTH APPROACHES

The objective of this study is to evaluate non-growth-related factors influencing employment, delving beyond conventional perspectives. This research aims to unveil the relationships between overall employment performance and other different factors that impact regional economies. Moreover, it becomes feasible to identify the differences and similarities present across various economic regions by adopting an employment-centric approach.For this purpose, a research covering a decade was conducted in specific regional zones, examining the difference between growth and unemployment trends within Türkiye, a nation often classified as developing.The data encompasses the years 2010 to 2020. Data beyond 2020 were not included in the study by virtue of the unpredictable impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. In order to avoid data loss in the study, missing data were interpolated based on time series analysis. Additionally, the data were transformed to achieve stationarity and freed from autocorrelation effects. Through causality analysis, empirical findings were obtained at a relatively micro level by pinpointing factors demonstrating a causal relationship with employment.Based on the research findings, employment performance displays regional variation independent of the country's macro-level data. These variations may be influenced by factors such as local dynamicsto each region. Observations reveal that in underdeveloped countries lacking geographical homogeneity, regional micro-level data tend to contain more reliable information than macro-level data. Therefore, there's an increasing emphasis on decision-makers having a deeper perspective and directing their attention to local economic regions before making pivotal economic decisions.This article questions the established relationship between employment performance and geography. This research is original as it attempts to identify factors that coincide with employment performance by considering sectoral structure, foreign trade, market size, sectoral diversity and demographic structure within local areas.