This study aims to analyze the impact of investment value and the number of projects on employment in Surabaya’s leading economic sectors during the 2020–2024 period, motivated by fluctuations in investment realization and labor absorption. The data used are sectoral panel data obtained from the Surabaya City Investment and One-Stop Integrated Service Office (DPMPTSP). The analytical method applied is panel data regression, with model selection conducted using the Chow Test and Lagrange Multiplier Test. The results indicate that the Common Effect Model (CEM) is the most appropriate model. The estimation results show that both the number of projects and investment value have a positive and statistically significant effect on employment, as indicated by t-statistics of 24.85441 (p-value = 0.00) and 2.220927 (p-value = 0.037), respectively. Simultaneously, the model is significant based on the F-test (F = 381.9359; p-value = 0.00). The model demonstrates strong explanatory power, with an R-squared value of 0.972006 (97.20%) and an adjusted R-squared of 0.969461, indicating that most of the variation in employment can be explained by the independent variables. Furthermore, classical assumption tests confirm that the model satisfies normality (Jarque-Bera p-value = 0.1064), shows no multicollinearity (VIF < 10), no autocorrelation (Breusch–Godfrey p-value = 0.8476), and no heteroscedasticity (Goldfeld–Quandt p-value = 0.9684). These findings suggest that increasing the number of projects has a more substantial effect on employment compared to increasing investment value, highlighting the importance of expanding labor-intensive projects to enhance job creation.