CHAPTER ONE1.0 INTRODUCTION1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDYUnemployment is generally seen as a macro-economic problem aswell as socio-economic problem .Unemployment arises as a result ofinsufficient and non-availability of jobs to correspond with the growingpopulation, even those who are employed sometimes live with the fear of beingunemployed due to job insecurity and retrenchment of workers. There isemployment of factors of production if they are engaged in production. Theterm unemployment could be used in relation to any of the factors of productionwhich is idle and not being utilized properly for production. However, withreference to labour, there is unemployment if it is not possible to find jobs forall those who are eligible and able to work. Labour is said to be underemployedif it is working below capacity or not fully utilized in production (R.A.IAnyawuocha 1993)Unemployment can either be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary inthe sense that one chooses not to work because he or she has means of supportother than employment. Example is an idle rich man. On the other hand,involuntary unemployment exist when persons who are eligible and willing towork at the prevailing rate of pay are unable to find work. (Anyanwa 1995).2According to the central bank of Nigeria (2004), unemployment rose to 30%during 2004 statistics on unemployment rate.Unemployment has been seen as a world-wide economic problem andhas been categorizedas one of the serious impediments to social progress .Apartfrom representing a huge waste of a country‟s manpower resources, it generateswelfare loss in terms of lower output thereby leading to lower income and wellbeing of the people (Akinboyo, 1987, and Raheem 1993). Unemployment is avery serious issue in Africa (Vandemortele, 1991, and Rama 1998), andparticularly in Nigeria (Oladeyi, 1994 and Umo, 1996). The need to avert thenegative effect of unemployment has made the tackling of unemploymentproblems to feature very prominently in the development objectives of manydeveloping countries.In the study of unemployment in Africa Okonkwo (2005) identifiedthree (3) cause of unemployment, the educational system, the choice oftechnology which can either be labour intensive or capital intensive andinadequate attention to agriculture. The use of machines to replace work doneby labour and computerization has contributed to these social problems in thesense that what for example forty (40) men can do manually a machine willonly need like five (5) men. Therefore, the remaining thirty five (35) areunemployed. More so, lack of enough education and skill to have access tocredit and capital.3One particular feature of unemployment in Nigeria is that it was moreendemic in the early 1980‟s than any other period. According to Udabah(1999:62), the major factor contributing to low standard of living inunderdeveloped countries in their relative inadequate or inefficient utilization oflabour in comparism with advanced nations. Unemployment rate is measured bythe proportion of the labour force that is unemployed divided by the totalnumber of the labour force. The total labour force was projected at 61,249,485in 2007 indicating an increase of 3.9%. Total employment in 2007 stood at52,326,923 compared with 50,886,836 in 2006. This represents an annualincrease of 2.8%. The labour force consists of the number of people ageing 18and over who are employed (that is, those who currently have jobs) andunemployed (those who do not have jobs but who are actively looking forwork).Individuals who do not fall into either of these group such as retiredpeople and discouraged workers are not included in the calculation of the labourforce.The international labour force organization (ILO) definesunemployment as the proportion of the labour force which was available for butdid not work for at least one hour in the week preceding the survey period.National Bureau of statistics (N.B.S). Nigeria defines unemployment as theproportion of the labour force that is available for work but did not work for atleast thirty nine (39) hours in the week preceding survey period.4Unemployment according to lipsey (1963:456) brings abouteconomic waste and cause human suffering. According to Fadayomi, 1992,Osinubi, 2006, unemployment is as a result of the inability to develop andutilize the nations manpower resources effectively especially in the rural sector.The socio-economic effect of unemployment includes: fall innational output, increase in rural-urban migration, waste of human resources,high rate of dependency ratio, poverty, depression, frustration, all sorts ofimmoral acts and criminal behaviour e.g prostitution, armed robbery e.t.c. Thesocial effect of unemployment brings to light the need to proffer possiblesolution to salvage our nation Nigeria