Rethinking Job Creation: Ontological And Epistemological Foundations Of Macroeconomic Employment Analysis

This article develops a conceptual and philosophical reassessment of job creation within the broader fieldof macroeconomic employment analysis. Rather than focusing exclusively on empirical regularities, it examines theontological and epistemological foundations underlying dominant macroeconomic frameworks—particularly the PhillipsCurve and Okun’s Law—that have historically shaped interpretations of the relationships among inflation, economic growth,and unemployment. The study reinterprets these relationships through the lens of job creation and job destruction, withparticular attention to emerging and transitional economies where labour market dynamics often diverge from standardtheoretical assumptions.The analysis revisits classical, expectations-augmented, and New Keynesian approaches to the inflation–unemploymentnexus, alongside contemporary interpretations of the growth–unemployment relationship. However, instead of treatingthese models solely as empirical instruments, the article critically evaluates their underlying assumptions regarding thenature of macroeconomic causality, equilibrium adjustment, and labour market responsiveness. It further examines howconcepts such as nonlinearity, asymmetry, structural shifts, and institutional conditioning challenge the interpretation ofmacroeconomic relationships as stable and universally applicable laws.Special attention is given to structurally evolving and post-transition economies, where conventional linear macroeconomicspecifications may not fully capture the complexity of employment responses to fluctuations in output and prices. In suchcontexts, job creation appears not only as a consequence of aggregate demand expansion but also as a process shapedby institutional arrangements, expectation formation, structural rigidities, and policy credibility. The article thereforeargues that macroeconomic employment analysis should incorporate business-cycle asymmetries, regime changes, andinstitutional diversity in order to maintain analytical relevance.Methodologically, the study adopts a structured analytical and philosophical review approach. It contrasts theoreticalpropositions with cross-country empirical evidence while clarifying the ontological status of macroeconomic variablesand the epistemological strategies used to examine them. Within this framework, job creation and job destruction areconceptualised as structurally embedded macroeconomic processes shaped by the interaction of output dynamics,inflation expectations, monetary–fiscal coordination, and institutional constraints.The contribution of the article lies in reinterpreting the Phillips and Okun traditions within a coherent philosophicalperspective that clarifies the conceptual foundations of macroeconomic employment analysis. By synthesising theoreticaldebates and methodological considerations, the study establishes a rigorous conceptual platform for future empiricalmodelling and policy-oriented research aimed at supporting sustainable and employment-intensive economic growth instructurally transforming economies.