EFFECTS OF TOURISM SECTOR ON THE EMPLOYMENT IN TURKEY: AN ECONOMETRIC APPLICATION Kübra ÖNDER Ministry Of National Defence,Turkey. Ay e DURGUN Süleyman Demirel University, TURKEY Abstract It appears that tourism in Turkey, which is a tourism country, developed rapidly especially after 1980 and struggled to gain competitive advantage in international tourism sector. In this context, the aim of this study is to test whether there is a long-term relationship between tourism and employment, and to display the possible contribution of the sector to employment. In this paper, annual time series data regarding tourism revenues of 1980-2006 period are examined using Engle-Granger causality test, Johansen co-integration approach and error correction modeling. . The empirical findings obtained as a result of VAR indicates that tourism has a positive effect on employment while the co-integration test indicates that there is a long-term correlation between the two variables. Keywords: Tourism and Employment, Causality, Co-Integration, Error Correction Model. Introduction Employment is one of the most important issues in a country such as Turkey where unemployment increases day by day. Since tourism sector is labor augmented sector, it is relatively more effective in creating jobs than other sector. Consumption expenditures of tourists provide direct or indirect employment opportunities in this sector. Consequently tourism affects total employment in a country via the general employment effects on the economy. In this context, the aim of this study is to test whether there is a long-term relationship between tourism and employment, and to display the possible contribution of the sector to employment. In the first section of this study, impact of tourism on employment will be explained by considering various types and characteristics of tourism employment. After, this paper investigates the causal relationship between tourism revenues and employment in Turkey for the period from 1980 to 2007. We utilize co-integration analysis and vecto