Pitan and Adedeji (2012) examined the problem of skills mismatch and
its prevalence in the Nigeria labour market. The study adopted the
descriptive survey research design of “ex-post facto†type. The research
was carried out in all the six geo-political zones of the country. The
purposive sampling technique was used to select one town per
geo-political zone. A total of 600 management staffs were randomly
selected for the study. A questionnaire titled “Labour Market Core
Skills Requirementss and Employers Assessment Questionnaire†(r = 0.83)
was utilised to elicit relevant information from employers of labour on
the current labour market skill demands and their assessment of the
performance of recently employed university graduates in 300
organisations (from both private and public sectors). Three research
questions were answered and two hypotheses were tested at the
significant level of 0.05. The data collected were analysed using
descriptive statistics, (Analysis of Variance) ANOVA and t-tests.
There was a significant negative relationship between skills demand
and supply (r = -0.485; p < 0.05). The extent of skills mismatch was
60.6% with major weaknesses found in communication, IT (Information
Technology), decision-making, critical thinking and entrepreneurial
skills. Analytical skill was the most required skill by the labour
market and critical thinking was the least. The mean for each of the
skills demand was significantly different from its supply. The study
discovered that university graduates were not adequately prepared for
work with respect to skills demand of the labour market. Nigerian
universities are therefore recommended to inculcate the skills
identified as critical to but deficient in the graduates. Also, parents
should understand the skills demand of the labour market in order to
guide their wards appropriately.
Adeyeye, Aina, Ige and Kolapo
(2012) investigated factors influencing hiring/placement of university
graduates in Nigeria. The study noted the alarming rate of graduate
unemployment and analysed the factors influencing Labour Market Core
Skills Requirementsfor university graduates in Nigeria. A total of 110
Labour Organisations were randomly sampled within Lagos metropolis. The
study adopted the descriptive survey design. With the aid of a
structured questionnaire and unstructured interview questions, relevant
data were collected. Four hypotheses were postulated and tested at 0.05
level of significance. The finding of the study showed that there were
significant relationships between the experience, government’s economic
policies, quality of the degree, the area of specialisation and a hiring
/placement of labour by an employer.
Chiacha and Amaechi (2013)
carried out a study on entrepreneurship education and graduate
employability in Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to investigate if
the employability skills needed by employers were embedded in the
entrepreneurship education being offered to undergraduates and if it
brought about high employability index in graduates. A descriptive
survey design was used on 220 employers of labour and 100 university
graduates in Nigeria. This was selected through a multistage sampling
technique. Three research questions and two hypotheses were formulated
to guide the study. Mean, standard deviation, Chi-square and
multivariate regression were used for data analysis. Nine employability
skills were found to be required by Nigerian employers. The study also
found out that the entrepreneurial education currently offered did not
lead to high employability index. The study recommended that there
should be a serious paradigm shift in the content used in
entrepreneurship education delivery in Nigeria.
Adamu and
Dangado (2013) carried out an investigation on assessment of views of
business education graduates on the effect of technological advancement
on their employability in Nigeria labour market. The study had four
specific objectives and four null hypotheses. The descriptive survey
design method was adopted for the study. A four-rating scale structured
questionnaire titled “Modern Technology and Employability skills†(MTES)
was employed to generate data from 89 respondents that participated in
the 2012/2013 business education postgraduate entry examination. The
data collected were coded using SPSS to run the Pearson product-moment
correlation coefficient to test null hypothesis one. Chi-square was used
to test null hypothesis two while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used
to test null hypotheses three and four. All the four hypotheses were
tested at 0.05 level of significance. The analysis revealed among other
findings that business education curriculum contents in Nigeria did not
equip students with generic skills required for their employability in
Nigerian labour market in the present advanced technological era. Based
on the findings, the researchers recommended that all the major skills
in the modern technologies needed by the Nigerian labour market should
be integrated into the curriculum of business education programmes in
Nigerian universities.
