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Labour Market Demand And University Graduate Employability Skills
[A CASE STUDY OF NORTH-WEST NIGERIA]
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Academic disciplines can be treated as a particular form of the
division of labour and as a crucial aspect of the overall
professionalization of science. Professionalizing academic discipline
enables academics to gain the freedom of following their own pursuits
and professional intellects (Whitley, 2000). Therefore, academic
disciplines have all the main characteristics of other professions, for
instance, they have collegiate autonomy over professional training and
certification of professional competence, they have a distinct set of
knowledge and skills that is institutionalized in a curriculum, they
have distinct professional ethics and there is a community of
professionals that cultivates a distinct professional habitus (Beck
& Young, 2005). Division of labour is an integral aspect of modern
society and specializing in one occupation remains an essential feature
of the labour market experience. However, in many professional and
highly skilled occupations, specialization occurs prior to entering the
labour market when an individual chooses a major field of study in
university. The timing of such academic specialization varies widely
across different systems of higher education. In some systems, students
are required to choose a field of study early while in others, students
may postpone this decision until much later.
Sources of Labour Demand
Dabalen, Oni and Adekola (2000) identified three major sources of employment for Nigerian University graduates. These are;
(a).
The public sector: The public sector comprises government ministries,
schools and parastatals. Traditionally, the public sector is regarded as
a major employer of graduates from universities and other tertiary
institutions. The establishment surveys showed that the public sector in
Nigeria absorbed about 60% of the formal sector workers in the 1990s
(Dabalen et al., 2000).
(b) The private sector: A review of labour
market research in Nigeria led to two consistent observations
concerning graduate employment in the private sector. Firstly, the share
of graduate employments in the private sector, both historically and at
present, had been smaller than the share in the public sector.
Secondly, the share of graduates finding jobs in the public sector has
fallen drastically relative to the private and self-employment sector.
These bleak prospects for graduate employment have caught the attention
of policy makers as well as media commentators. It is hard to ignore
labour market studies that reported high unemployment rates among
graduates. One of these is the manpower survey by the Manpower Board in
which only 51% of those who graduated in 1994/95 claimed to have been
employed in contrast to an overall graduate employment rate of 80% for
all respondents to this particular study. The estimate is also
consistent with the recent labour market studies that reported 22% of
the graduates surveyed as unemployed (National Manpower Board, 1998).
The National Manpower Board
National Manpower Board (NMB) is an autonomous Federal Government
parastatal mandated to research into and advice on, co-ordinate and
promotes the optimal development (training) and utilization (employment)
of Nigeria’s human resources. The establishment of the Board was
considered by the National Economic Council (NEC) in December, 1960 and
the Board was established in 1962 (Babalola, 2006). The Board was
charged with the following responsibilities;
1. to determine and advise the government on the nation’s manpower needs in all occupations;
2. to formulate manpower development and utilization policies and programmes;
3. to co-ordinate manpower policies and programmes of federal, state and local governments;
4. to collect, collate, analyze and publish manpower and employment information and data;
5. to make inputs into the;
(i) formulation of policies and programmes of manpower development and utilization of government agencies;
(ii) preparation of periodic master plans for the coordinated development of institutions of higher learning;
(iii)
formulation of training programmes by all government agencies,
including ministries, corporations and government-owned companies;
(iv) formulation of policies governing scholarships and students’ loans tenable within or outside Nigeria;
(v)
formulation of employment policies and the designing of programmes for
employment generation, productivity enhancement and skill development
and
(vi) implementation of manpower policies and programmes
relating to expatriate employment, the training, efforts of private
firms and the participation of Nigerians in the management of business
activities.
6. to identify in liaison with professional bodies and
institutions, the stock flow and distribution of professional manpower;
7. to organize and conduct seminars, workshops, conferences, symposia and other research and training activities;
8. to disseminate information on manpower issues.
(c)
Self-employment: This is the self-generated employment by an
individual. Available statistics in Nigeria indicated that the informal
sector contributes about 60 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic
Product (GDP). Like many other developing countries, the sector is
considered crucial to job creation as it accounts for about 90 percent
of jobs in the country (Federal Office of Statistic, 2012). The informal
sector is neither static nor well organized but contributes greatly to
economic growth. The activities which are considered purely as informal
sector are: selling fruits and vegetables; food operation, sale and
processing, selling clothes and shoes (both new and second-hand); Kiosk
selling various items; water kiosks; small retailers or hawkers who sell
cereals, home supplies, fuels and other goods; small manufacturing,
production, construction and repair of goods. Others includes artisans,
hair dressing, furniture, entertainment industry, educational services
and so on (World Bank, 2010: 32-33).
Briggs (2007) classified
sources of recruitment into internal and external. He further expressed
that the extent to which these sources will be used depends on the
specific environment of organization as well as its philosophy of
operations. The internal source means that employees are familiar with
the system and the organization. Also, they have information about their
skills, abilities and actual behavior on the job. The employees
recruited internally are either seeking lateral moves (job changes that
entail no major changes in responsibility or authority levels like
transfers) or promotions (Jones, George & Hill, 2007). Internal
sources are not expensive and are less time consuming compared to
external sources (Briggs, 2007). External recruitment is used especially
for lower entry jobs in periods of expansion and for positions whose
specific requirements cannot be met by present employees within the
organization. There are multiple means through which an organization can
recruit externally, such as advertisements in electronic (including
internet) and print media, private and public employment agencies,
work-ins by job hunters, employee referrals, academic institutions,
professional associations, unions and informal networks (Jones et al,
2007). Advantages of external recruitment include having access to a
potentially large pool, being able to attract people to an organization
who have skills, knowledge and abilities the organization needs to
achieve its goals and being able to bring in newcomers who may be
up-to-date on the latest technology. The disadvantages of external
recruitment include high costs of recruitment and training, lack of
knowledge about inner workings of the organization and uncertainty about
the performance of the potential employees. However, the degree of
complexity of recruitment is minimized by formulation of sound human
resources after careful analysis of the strength and weaknesses of the
environment (Briggs, 2007).
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACT WILL B E UP SOON ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX A - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]APPENDIX 1Sample Size Table*From The Research Advisors ... Continue reading---
QUESTIONNAIRE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ] ... Continue reading---
LIST OF FIGURES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]LIST OF FIGURESFigure 1: Conceptual Model of Labour Market Demand and University Graduate Employability Skills ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]TABLE OF CONTENTSContents Title Page Table of Contents List of Figures CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background to the Study Statement of the Problem Purpose of the Study Research Questions Research Hypotheses Significance of the Study Scope of the Study Operational Definition of Terms CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE University Education and Its Mandate Theoretical Framework Concept of Labour Market Demand Sources of Labour Demand in Nigeria Concept of Graduate Employability Employabil ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER ONE - [ Total Page(s): 6 ]CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTIONBackground to the Study Education is a means of empowerment to an individual and the society. Also, it is a strong weapon for developing human capacity needed for a sustainable national development. Tertiary education, which comprises universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and mono technics, has been identified as a means of developing human capacity required for sustainable national growth and development. Specifically, universities are saddled with the ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 3 ]Purposive sampling technique was used to select three management staff from the seven selected banks (these are bank managers, heads of operation and marketing). Purposive sampling technique was used to select four heads of departments in commerce and industry (these are heads of administration, human resource, production and marketing). This sampling technique was also used to select four heads of departments in commerce and industry (these are heads of administration, human resource, productio ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 3 ]REFERENCESAbiodun, S. O. (2010). Analysis of mismatch between demand and supply of skills and university graduate unemployment in Nigeria. Unpublished M.Ed Dissertation, Lagos State University.Adamu, I & Dangado, K. I. (2013). Assessment of views of business education graduates on the effect of technological advancement on their employability in Nigeria labour market. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Developm ... Continue reading---
