TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover Page i Title Page ii Declaration iii Certification iv Dedication v
Acknowledgements vi Table of Contents viii List of Tables x List of Figures xi Abstract xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………… 1 1.1 Background to the Study……………………………………………………… 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem…………………………………………………….. 4 1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study…………………………………………….. 7 1.4 Purpose of the study…………………………………………………………. 7 1.5 Hypotheses of the Study……………………………………………………… 7 1.6 Significance of the Study……………………………………………………… 7 1.7 Scope of the Study…………………………………………………………….. 8 1.8 Limitations of the Study……………………………………………………….. 8 1.9 Scheme of Chapters……………………………………………………………. 9
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW
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2.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 10 2.1 Conceptual Issues……………………………………………………………… 10 2.1.1 Concept of Graduate…………………………………………………………… 10 2.1.1.1 Types of Graduates……………………………………………………………. 10 2.1.1.2 Concept of Unemployment……………………………………………………. 11 2.1.1.3 Consequences of Unemployment in an Economy…………………………….. 16 2.1.1.4 Meaning of Graduate Unemployment………………………………………… 19 2.1.1.5 Determinants of Graduates Unemployment…………………………………… 19 2.1.1.6 Measures of Graduates Unemployment………………………………………. 21 2.1.1.7 Graduate Potentials……………………………………………………………. 24 2.1.1.8 Consequences of Graduates Unemployment in an Economy…………………. 25 2.2 Review of Empirical Literature on Graduates Unemployment……………….. 26 2.2.1 Evidence from Around the World…………………………………………….. 27 2.2.2 Evidence from Nigeria………………………………………………………… 38 2.4 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………….. 44
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CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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3.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………… 48 3.1 Research Design……………………………………………………………… 48 3.2 Description of study period………………………………………………….. 48 3.3 Population……………………………………………………………………. 49 3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques…………………………………………… 50 3.5 Instrument of data collection………………………………………………… 50 3.6 Validity and reliability of Research instrument……………………………… 51 3.7 Method of Data collection……………………………………………………. 51 i Types…………………………………………………………………………. 51 ii Sources……………………………………………………………………….. 51 3.8 Method of Data analysis……………………………………………………… 51 i Variable Name and Description………………………………………………. 51 ii Model Specification for Analysis……………………………………………… 54 iii Statistical Techniques for Data Analysis………………………………………. 55
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
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4.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………….. 56 4.1 Data Presentation………………………………………………………………. 56 4.2 Summary Statistics…………………………………………………………….. 57 4.3 Testing the Hypothesis………………………………………………………… 59 4.4 Presentation of Results………………………………………………………… 60 4.5 Discussion of Results…………………………………………………………. 60 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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5.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………… 62 5.1 Summary of Findings………………………………………………………… 62 5.2 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………… 62 5.3 Recommendations…………………………………………………………….. 63 5.4 Suggestions for further Research………………………………………………
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REFERENCES 64 APPENDIX 75 QUESTIONNAIRE
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LIST OF TABLE
Table: 1 Summary of literature around the world………………………………… 25 Table: 2 Summary of literature within the Nigeria………………………………. 31 Table: 3 Variable Name and Description………………………………………… 39 Table: 4 Questionnaire Administered……………………………………………. 43 Table: 5 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents……………………… 43 Table: 6 Regression Result (1)…………………………………………………… 44 Table: 7 Regression Result (2)…………………………………………………… 45 Table: 8 Independent t-test……………………………………………………….. 45
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure: Figure: Figure: Figure: Figure:
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ABSTRACT
This study attempt to examine the graduate unemployment in Nigeria: A case study of Sokoto
Metropolis, Sokoto State. It seeks to identify the determinants of graduate unemployment in the
metropolis. The data used it was primary in nature. The sampling techniques adopted was non
probability sampling; the technics used is accidental non probability sampling. The instrument of
data collection used was Questionnaire method; 200 copies were distributed within the Sokoto
metropolis, 184 were retrieve 16 were not retrieve. The variable of the study are; unemployment
challenge by the graduate, subject studied by the graduate, faculty graduated from, and class of
degree. The method of analysis used are multiple regression, independent T-test, descriptive
statistics. The result reveal that second class lower, History, Faculty of Arts, and Faculty of social
sciences a found to the determinant of graduate unemployment in the state. Also in terms of Gender
it was found, that there is negative significant difference between male and female graduate in the
state. The study concludes that graduate s that graduated from Faculty of Arts and social sciences
are the one likely, facing graduate unemployment in the state. The study recommends that there is
need for state-university collaboration so that to know the required graduates an economy need at
a time. Another policy implication is that, there is need for government intervention to avoid skills
miss-match among graduate in the state so that to reduce the rate of graduate unemployment.
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter seeks to give a general introduction of the entire research work. It starts with the
background to the study. Statement of the problem and the objectives of the study are also
presented in this chapter. The chapter also states the hypotheses of the study, purpose, its
significance, scope, limitations, assumption, as well as the scheme of chapters.
1.1 Background Of The Study
There is no uncertainty that unemployment is the one of the problem facing countries of the world
including developed and developing economies are been faced with this saga. It has been found
that unemployment found to be growing rapidly year in year out, the nature of it is graduate
unemployment which is ravaging the country for decade. This issue apply more distorting impact
on the developing economy. In the word of Ekpo (2008), a developing economy such as Nigeria’s
is faced with poor growth performance which manifests in the rising incidence of poverty, massive
graduate unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, worsening balance of payments disequilibrium,
monumental external debt burden, widening income disparity and growing fiscal imbalances,
which taken together can be said to constitute major causes of underdevelopment. In all, rising
graduate unemployment poses the most pervasive and devastative effect which threatens the
productivity of the Nigerian economy (Ake, 2010). Also, it’s indicate that the demand also will be
affected.
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In other angle People who are either unfit for work for physical or mental reason, or don’t want
work e.g. Sadhus are excluded from the category of the unemployed (Ahuja, 2008). Also according
to Sule Ahmad Gusau (2005) unemployment exist if those who are willing to work and able to
work cannot get job. In the other aspect Graduate unemployment is define as unemployment
among people who have graduated from tertiary institution and who are qualified to work but do
not work at any given point in time. In the Nigerian context, graduate unemployment refers to a
situation where tertiary institution graduate after finishing their nation youth service corps
(NYSC), and is willing and able to work but fail to secure job Aboidun (2010). It was found that
the acquisition of a University degree was once considered as a sure guarantee for securing a paid
employment either in the public or the private sector (Idowu, 1987). The reverse has been the case
in Nigeria. For several decades, the issue of graduate unemployment has remained intractable.
The discussion on the issue of graduate unemployment in Nigeria has become a national concern
as the unemployed youths tend to be more desperate, depressed and unhappy with their attendant
sleeplessness than those with jobs. This situation has not only posed a great challenge to the
economy but has also led to the retarded state of the country’s economic growth. The high rate of
graduate unemployment in Nigeria according to Adeyeye etal. (2012), can be associated with lack
of adequate provision for job creation in the development plans, the ever expanding educational
growth and the desperate desire on the part of youths to acquire tertiary education irrespective of
the social and economic reality. Consequently, a number of skills acquired from these tertiary
institutions appear dysfunctional and irrelevant since most of the skills and knowledge acquired in
tertiary institutions are kept redundant through unemployment and sometimes skills are not fully
utilized.
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On the other direction, as the graduate population in Nigeria rising without being absorbed in the
active market, labour productivity does not increase at its full potentials, this could be as a result
of the failure of government to control this phenomenon over the years in spite of numerous
programs and policies on this issue. Without denying the impact of other factors, unemployment
has exacerbated social ills and delinquent behavior among youths (most of whom are graduates)
especially armed robbery, political thuggery, advanced fee fraud and the recent spate of terrorism
(Boko Haram) in Nigeria, which has been on rampage for the past 4 years, forcing the government
to be spending a lot of money on crime control. Recent statistics released by the National Bureau
of Statistics (NBS) showed that about 10 million Nigerians were unemployed. In fact, this number
swells by 120,000 graduates each year, which are produced with little or no jobs waiting for them.
(NBS 2009). It was trying to explain that there is an increase in the supply of graduate but there is
no demand for them.
In the process to address the problem of unemployment, many policies have been lunched by the
Federal Government of Nigeria. The well-known are; the Small and Medium Enterprise
Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) was established in 2003 to promote the development
of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector of the Nigerian economy. It is to source,
process and disseminate business information, develop policy, establish business support
programs, build capacity and promote services, enhance MSME access to finance. Others are the
Nigerian Agricultural Co-operative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB) Limited which is
centered to financing agriculture at both micro and macro levels. They are to provide affordable
financial and advisory services to the farm and non-farm enterprises of the Nigerian economy
using well trained and highly motivated staff, backed by appropriate technology. Those that were
established but later scrapped include: the Directorate for food Roads and Rural Infrastructures
otherwise known as (DFRRI), Mass Mobilization for Self Reliance and Economic Reconstruction
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(MAMSER) and the National Agricultural Land Development Project (NALDA). These were
created by the Babangida regime but scrapped by the Abacha regime.
Among all, the most innovative of these Programme is the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme
(NOAS) introduced by the Federal Government in 1987. The NOAS is an attempt to link education
with training and labour demand. It was managed by the National Directorate of Employment
(NDE) under the Ministry of Labour and Productivity. The NDE is a policy document that
addresses the provision of graduate level of employment, the essence of this is to know how
government policy should be used effectively in the reduction of graduate unemployment and
enhance productivity in Nigeria. This was also meant to provide vocational education and training
to unemployed youth in over 100 occupations. The main objective of these government programs
and policies is to provide means of livelihood to able but idle army of unemployed youths,
especially the graduates and give assurance to the private sector through the services of the youths.
Unluckily, the identified low demand of graduate result in high level of graduate unemployment
over the years in the country have shown that no meaningful progress has been made by these
programs and policies. It is against this background that this study is designed to investigate the
causes of unemployment among degree graduate in Sokoto state, Nigeria and its consequences in
an economy.
1.2 Statement Of The Problem
Controlling graduate unemployment and low labour demand in Nigeria has remained a Twin
problems facing the country for some decades now. The Nigerian total labour force is made up of
all persons aged 15-64 years excluding students, home keepers, retired persons and stay-at home
to work or those that are not interested. Nigeria’s unemployment can best be defined as the
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proportion of labour force that was available for work but did not work in the week preceding the
survey period for at least 39hours (Asoluka & Okezie, 2009). The 2011 official figures from the
international monetary fund (IMF) 2015, put the unemployed figure at 23.90 per cent, about 45
million including graduate are unemployed. The rising trend of unemployment assumed a
disastrous scenario in Nigeria a decade after political independence. As noted by Akintoye (2008),
between 1970 and 1980, national unemployment rate rose from 4.3 to 6.4% and further rose to
7.1% in 1987. This, according to Akintoye, is attributed to the economic depression which
engulfed the nation from 1980, resulting in massive closure of businesses and retrenchment of
workers. This was followed by the placement of embargo on recruitment which further worsened
the unemployment situation.
The Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) lunched in 1986 had on its part, a Positive effect on
job creation leading to a sharp decrease in unemployment rate from 7.1% in 1987 to 1.8% in 1995.
Thereafter, unemployment figure hovered around 4% between 1996 and 2000. One worrisome
trend in the Nigeria labour market of recent has been the growing incidence of unemployment
among professionals such as accountants, engineers and other graduates from universities and
other tertiary institutions. Graduate unemployment accounted for 32% of the total unemployed
labour force between 1992 and 1997 (Akintoye, 2008). This growing incidence of graduate
unemployment in the face of acute skill shortages presents a paradox which further complicates
the analysis of labour market distortions in Nigeria. (Dabalen et al., 2000).
Predictably, unemployment reduction has stayed a central focus of macroeconomic goals in
Nigeria. It is a continuing policy and responsibility of the federal government to use all practical
means to promote higher level of employment, production and purchasing power (Essien & Atan,
2006). The most critical factor explaining the rising unemployment in the country is the failure of
government policies to consciously tackle graduate unemployment among others. The need to
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avert the negative effects of unemployment and improve labour productivity through effective
government policies will make the tackling of unemployment problems to feature prominently in
the development objectives of the Nigerian government.
The main cause of graduate unemployment and low demand of graduate is the absence of an
appropriate and well implemented government policy to guide the strategies and Programme’s of
the various institutions operating in all sectors of the economy (Asoluka & Okezie, 2011).
However, efforts by different regimes in Nigeria such as Federal Ministry of Labour and
Productivity, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Small and Medium Scale Enterprise
(SMEs) and National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) in 2001 to generate more
employment and improve labour productivity to a large extent have not yielded the required results
(Essien & Atan, 2006).
To the best of my knowledge no research has found been conducted on the issue of graduate
unemployment in Sokoto state, so because of this I become very interested to contribute my quota
in academia. So, In view of the revealed reality coupled with the extended debates in the literature,
this study is built to examine the causes of unemployment among degree graduate in Sokoto state,
Nigeria. In carrying this out it will be guided by the following research questions.
1. What are the determinants of unemployment among degree graduates?
2. What is the differences in the causes of unemployment between male and female
graduates?
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1.3 Aim and objective of the study
The broad objective is causes of unemployment among degree graduate in Sokoto state,
Nigeria. Which will be achieved through the following specific objectives:
1. To identify the determinants of unemployment among degree graduates.
2. To examine the differences in the causes of unemployment between male and female
graduates
1.4 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is find out the determinant of graduate unemployment in the state, then
to extent does these determinant influences graduate unemployment. Also, to identify the
difference in the causes of unemployment between male and female graduates; means to assess if
there is any difference between male and female graduates in the state in terms of employment.
This study is also, focus only on the aspect of degree graduate why are they facing graduate
unemployment. That is the reason why this study is carry out.
1.5 hypothesis of the study
One:
HO: There is no difference in the causes of unemployment between male and female graduates,
HA: There is difference in causes of unemployment between male and female graduates.
1.6 significance of the study
This research work will prove relevant to knowledge for the following reasons: It will provide
relevant information on whether graduate unemployment has impact or not. It will serve as a
reference work for future researchers. It will offer recommendations to policy makers on how to
deal with issue of graduate unemployment in the economy
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1.7 scope of the study
This study Centre on graduate proportion of the total unemployment in Nigeria, taking into
consideration those unemployed, who own B.A/ B.SC/ B.ED/ certificates. This study provides a
robust empirical review and theoretical argument on the causes of unemployment among degree
graduate in Sokoto state, Nigeria. In specifics, it analyses the impact of graduate unemployment
in the economy and what causes the graduate unemployment.
1.8 limitations of the study
In any research, there are possible hitches which are unavoidable. This research is not an exception.
Therefore, in the process of this research, some problems were encountered.
First, empirical studies on the causes of unemployment among degree graduate in Sokoto state,
Nigeria involve data which has to do with a lot of pre-tests and investigations. This will likely
affect the quality of the research work.
Second, the choice of variables selected may not be the appropriate measure causes of
unemployment among degree graduate under study. This will also likely have an effect on the
quality of the research findings.
Lastly, the study deals with primary and secondary data obtained from the International Monetary
Fund, World Bank records and administration of questionnaires which may contain some
measurement errors. This may likely affect the robustness of our findings.
Despite these limitations, the research intends to review as much as is possible the causes of
unemployment among degree graduate and apply an appropriate method of analysis that will suit
the data set we are dealing with.
1.9 scheme of chapters
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In order to succeed the objectives of this research, the work has been portion into five parts.
Chapter one gives the general introduction of the research work which discusses the background
to the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, hypotheses of the study, significance
of the study, scope of the study, limitations of the study and scheme of chapters.
Chapter two provides a survey of related literature on the causes of unemployment among degree
graduate by providing empirical studies conducted on Asian countries and African countries.
Chapter three presents the methodology. It consists of introduction, study area, type and the
sources of data, study period, variable measurement, and model specification, techniques of data
analysis as well as estimation procedure.
Chapter four is concerned with result and discussion. It further provides into sections; introduction,
result (descriptive and inferential result), the chapter conclude with discussion of findings and
summary.
The final chapter which is chapter five offers concluding remarks on the research work. It provides
sections for a summary of findings, conclusions, recommendation and suggestion for further
research.
