Unemployment problems amongst graduates of higher institutions (a case study of enugu metropolis)

Thesis Overview

<p> INTRODUCTION<br>1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY<br>This chapter provides a broad overview of the employment<br>situation in graduate s which is a major concern of government<br>and their social partner throughout the region. Theapproach is<br>rather general and highlights major issues concerning<br>employment problems and prospects in the region. Because of<br>data limitation, it does not attempt a comprehensive and<br>quantitative analysis of the employment situation. it brings with<br>an examination of the employment problems, including<br>background information on its origin and trends, and then looks<br>at the nature and underlying causes of contemporary<br>unemployment. Unemployment of a large portion of the labor<br>force is a central problem now in almost all the underdeveloped<br>countries.<br>The phenomenon of chronic unemployment has become the<br>major concern of successive Nigerian government. The<br>9<br>phenomenon of joblessness creates much concern for the<br>individual Nigerians. According to the 1966 – 67 manpower<br>surveys in Nigeria, the proportion of the labour force in Nigeria<br>not working is 1 – 7 percent, which means that nearly two of<br>every one hundred member of the potential labor are<br>unemployed.<br>Unemployment has thus reached such an alarming situation<br>today that is perhaps considered the most serious of the problem<br>affecting Nigeria and one that is steadily worsening as the gap<br>between the rapid rising member pressing for work and the new<br>employment opportunities being created widens.<br>In the underdeveloped countries such as Nigeria however<br>employment benefits are not available to the unemployed. the<br>income level of the great majority of families makes the provision<br>of unemployment benefits virtually impossible thus those unable<br>to find jobs or these discharged from their previous employments<br>re left to fend for themselves. in under developed countries<br>majority of job seekers are therefore forced to create<br>10<br>employment for themselves particularly in the rural agricultural<br>sectors where they force disguised unemployment. in the context<br>of this study both those who are disguised unemployment. in the<br>context of this study both those who are disguisedly unemployed<br>and those who are openly unemployed are lumped together as<br>the unemployed.<br>thus unemployment is define briefly as the negative aspect of the<br>economic process for an unemployed person is one who despite<br>his willingness and capacity to work is unable to do so for reasons<br>inherent in the organization of the commodity production.<br>1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PPROBLEMS<br>Unemployment rates are particularly high among graduate and<br>especially among school leaves, giving rise increasingly to the<br>problems of “educated unemployment”. paradoxically, graduate<br>unemployment seems to be correlated with levels of education<br>attained in some cases. This is particularly true for school leavers<br>in, for example, Nigeria where the proportion of the unemployed<br>with secondary education increased from 24 to 51 percent<br>between 1974 and 1985. graduate employment rates are<br>probably 3 – 4 times higher than those of older workers, and in<br>many countries in the region open unemployment among<br>graduate as a group in the labour could be as 40 – 50 percent.<br>Moreover, graduate s and new entrants to the labour force are as<br>well placed as experienced workers to find employment in new<br>opportunities or to go into self employment. The problems of<br>graduate unemployment reflect the contraction of jobs in the<br>modern sector and declining rate of job creation in that sector. It<br>also suggests serious labour market distortions related to the<br>development and utilization of human resources in the context<br>of changing economic circumstances. further, the problem of<br>graduate unemployment is linked to the fact of many African<br>countries, as already noted, continue to record relatively high<br>rates of population growth, and the population structure of some<br>of those countries is overwhelmingly young will children of school<br>going age accounting for as much as half of the total population<br>in some cases.<br>1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY<br>Unemployment has become a current and a current universal<br>problem in Nigeria. The impact presently has been felt by 80% of<br>Nigerian’s families. The efforts of our government to curb it are<br>inadequate or misdirected, so positive results are not yet in sight.<br>Unemployment has brought hardship and object poverty to many<br>families. The level of adult dependency has increased, so the rate<br>of saving in our economy is declining. The problem has also led to<br>increase in crime waves and rates. All these could spell doom for<br>the nation. It is deemed fit to embark on this study as a<br>contribution towards the eradication of the problems of<br>unemployment and its accompanying problems and hardship to<br>the individual and in general.<br>Our primary motive of carrying out this study were born of the<br>desire to contribute in any meaningful way the idea of how the<br>glowing rate of unemployment in Nigeria can be dealt with in<br>order to reduce its social and other consequences especially on<br>our leaders of tomorrow to at least a minimum. <br></p>