CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Unemployment is generally agreed to be symptom of macro-economic illness which could be “voluntary” or in “Voluntary”. When is said voluntary I mean a condition where somebody chooses not to work because they have a means of support other than employment example is the idle rich man. On the other hand involuntary unemployment exists when persons are willing to work at the prevailing rate of pay but unable to find work. (Anyanwu 1995).
Balogun, ed et el (2003) also defined unemployed as the percentage of the percentage of the labour force that is without job, but is able and willing to work. In Nigeria however the ability and willingness to work is not sufficient. It is necessary for the unemployment to be registered with an employment bureau in order to be recognized as unemployed. Yet, from an economic viewpoint, the unregistered unemployed are part of the labour force and are, therefore, technically unemployed. In Nigeria, unemployment data are obtained through labour force sample surveys which ask if the respondent has worked in the week preceding the survey. However, the international labour organization (ILO), realizing the shortcomings of the labour survey as it affects developing economies, such as Nigeria, with a large informal sector, has encouraged a review of the methodology to incorporate further disaggregation of respondent responses to bring out the true rate of unemployment.
In order to establish the type of unemployment existing in an economy, economists have classified unemployment as „frictional‟, „seasonal‟ „structural‟ or cyclical‟.
1. Frictional Unemployment occurs when people are temporarily out of work because they are changing jobs. This is unavoidable in an economy in which both the labour force and the jobs on offer are continually changing.
2. Seasonal unemployment is said to occur in a situation in which people are laid off seasonally, due to the nature of the job they do, e.gagriculture workers in developing countries may be laid off during the growing season.
3. Structural unemployment is the unemployment that exists when an economy is in full employment. Structural unemployment occurs where employment in one or more declining industries is falling.
It is as result of movement in the natural employment rate itself, which can result from changes in labour market institutions, demographic shifts etc. this situation is brought about by economic variables, such as the level of aggregate demand and the actual and/or expected real wage rate.
4. Cyclical unemployment occurs as result of fluctuations around the natural employment rate, which can be attributed to changes in aggregate demand.
Industrial relations refer to the process of conflict resolution, such as collective bargaining, between employers and employees in the course of fulfilling an employment contact. It could be achieved either by conquest (when one party overwhelms the other), or by mutual consent. The latter, preferred outcome is likely to result from collective bargaining. Continuous industrial harmony is, therefore, often the result of positive industrial relations.
In Nigeria, unemployment is regarded as one of the most challenging economics problem facing the federal government. Although, there are variations in the measurement of unemployment, official estimates show their results as follows: from 1985-2003, the data shows a highly fluctuation trend from both the urban and rural sectors of the economy. From the data, the 1985 figure shows the percentage of the national urban and rural unemployment as follows: national 6.10%, urban 9.8%m rural 5.2%and in year figure is as follows: national 3% urban 3.8% rural 2.7 %( CBN 2004).
The rising rate of the population of the country which is faster than the job opportunities, a situation in which birth rate is rising, death rate falling and the population growth rate is between 2.5% and 3% unemployment is bound to exist. There had been also a total neglect of the agricultural sectors and consequent mass exodus of able bodied youths from the rural to urban areas in search of the none existing while cooler jobs.
This further reduces employment in agriculture and puts pressure on existing urban jobs (Anyanwu 1995)