Author: Terhemen Philip Abachi & Naomi Onyeje Doki
Year:2012
Abstract: Labour theory classifies unemployment by its causes. One of them is that unemployment could be frictional. The search theory of unemployment is applied to analyze frictional unemployment
resulting from “job huntingâ€. Job hunting is the act of looking for employment due to unemployment or discontent with a current position. The search theory gives an insight into what makes for an
optimal decision on how much time and effort to spend searching. This study investigates the job seeking behaviour of unemployed graduates in Makurdi metropolis, Benue State, thereby contributing to theoretical interpretation. The questions addressed by the study are: What is the nature of job seeking behaviour of unemployed graduates in Benue state? Is there any correlation
between the job seeking behaviour of unemployed graduates and the courses studied? And, is there any correlation between the job seeking behaviour of unemployed graduates and the classes of degrees earned? The study adopts a survey, uses descriptive tools, a correlation analysis as well as the logit regression to help shed light on the nature of this behaviour among the graduates while
investigating the determinants of job search. The results of the study show that getting a degree is more relevant than the class of degree earned in terms of finding employment. Also, employing
more search methods reduces the probability of being unemployed. Further discussions lead us to recommend that policy makers should proceed with caution in applying the search theory in our
environment.
resulting from “job huntingâ€. Job hunting is the act of looking for employment due to unemployment or discontent with a current position. The search theory gives an insight into what makes for an
optimal decision on how much time and effort to spend searching. This study investigates the job seeking behaviour of unemployed graduates in Makurdi metropolis, Benue State, thereby contributing to theoretical interpretation. The questions addressed by the study are: What is the nature of job seeking behaviour of unemployed graduates in Benue state? Is there any correlation
between the job seeking behaviour of unemployed graduates and the courses studied? And, is there any correlation between the job seeking behaviour of unemployed graduates and the classes of degrees earned? The study adopts a survey, uses descriptive tools, a correlation analysis as well as the logit regression to help shed light on the nature of this behaviour among the graduates while
investigating the determinants of job search. The results of the study show that getting a degree is more relevant than the class of degree earned in terms of finding employment. Also, employing
more search methods reduces the probability of being unemployed. Further discussions lead us to recommend that policy makers should proceed with caution in applying the search theory in our
environment.