Therefore, the major task in the process of human capital development is to provide the educational system that would meet the changing labour market requirements so that the educational system would be able to produce labour force corresponding to the needs of the future economy development tendencies and orientation towards knowledge- based economy. This theory is very important and relevant to the current situation of developing nations like Nigeria where demand for labour is low due to the belief of some employers of labour that graduates are poorly trained and unemployable because they could not meet up with labour market requirements. Therefore, human capital development theory provides the premise upon which this study sought to investigate labour market demand and university graduate employability skills in North-west, Nigeria.
This theory is very important and relevant to the current situation of developing nations like Nigeria where demand for labour is low due to the belief of some employers of labour that some graduates are poorly trained and unemployable because they could not meet up with labour market requirements due to soft skills mismatch. Therefore, Keynesian theory provides the premise upon which this study investigated labour market core skills requirements and university graduate soft skills competence in North-west, Nigeria as presented in figure 1.
Employability
Source: The researcher (2017) adapted from Pitan Model (2016)
This model of graduate employability as depicted in Figure 1 is adapted from other existing models such the Career EDGE model of graduate employability by Pool and Sewell (2007) and Theoretical model on the relationships between job transitions, movement capital and perceived employability by Forrier, Verbruggen and De Cuyper (2015) and Pitan (2016) towards enhancing university graduate employability in Nigeria
Apart from conceptual support, this model is based on the identified components that will lead to enhanced employability of graduates. The arrows explain the relationship between the different components in the model which assume that if graduates meet the basic demand of employers and possess the related skills, their employability will be enhanced in the labour market.
Concept of Labour Market Core Skills Requirements
A market exists at whenever point there is a good or service for which there are both buyers (demanders) and sellers (suppliers). In the labour market, labour services are exchanged and those negotiations occurring between buyers and sellers partly determine the placement of workers in jobs with specified wages, benefits, and conditions of employment (Kaufman & Hotchkiss, 2003).
In the most basic terms, the supply of labour refers to the number of people currently working or actively seeking employment. The size of the labour supply is determined by the number of individuals of working age (the working-age population) as well as the proportion of the working-age population that wishes to work (Kaufman & Hotchkiss, 2003). Other aspects of labour supply include the hours that staff work, the effort put forth by employees, and the skills possessed by the workforce. Thus, labour supply is determined by numerous factors including: the age distribution of the population; retirement behaviour; migration patterns; education and training decisions; fertility rates; the state of the economy; and individuals’ decisions concerning the allocation of time between work activities and leisure (Kaufman &Hotchkiss, 2003).
