The Linkage between Vocational Education and Labor Market in Turkey: Employability and Skill Mismatch

Abstract

Countries structure their vocational education and training (VET) systems based on the demands of labor market. As the changes in labor market directly affect VET, VET is the education type which needs transformation in education system to the greatest extent. Although performance of VET depends on the relationship between VET and labor market, this fact is ignored in most countries. Under this circumstance, horizontal or vertical skill mismatches arise predominantly in labor market. When this strong interaction between education and labor market is ignored, policies to eliminate the skill mismatch focus only on VET, issues in labor market are neglected, consequently, problems cannot be solved and on the contrary, these problems become consistent. In this study, VET in Turkey is reviewed in employment and skill mismatch perspectives. Despite the high employment ratios of VTAH graduates, they are employed mostly out of their field of education, therefore, it is seen that horizontal skill mismatch is widespread. On the other hand, skill surpluses in labor market attract a considerable deal of attention. It is suggested to restructure the location and training capacity of VTAHs considering supply-demand balance. Besides, it is suggested to restructure VTAHs in such a way that they concentrate more on academic skills rather than occupationally specific skills, so VET can be more flexible and increase mobility. In addition, in VTCs, where apprenticeship training is provided through a strong collaboration with labor market, it is observed that skill mismatch is at quite low level and it is suggested to increase the capacity of VTCs due to high demand.