Global Journal of Human Social Science, E: Economics, Volume 21 Issue 4

use to gauge the economy's health. To calculate the official unemployment rate, U-3, the BLS divides the total unemployed by the over-all labour force participants. For example, the December 2016 monthly rate report indicated that the total number of unemployed people was 7.53 million and the civilian labour force consisted of 159.64 persons. So, the unemployment rate was, calculated to be 7.53 ÷ 159.64 = 4.7%. In the same December 2016 report, marginally attached people to the labour force were 1.68 million. The total of workers with part-time jobs for economic reasons was 5.6 million. When calculating the U-6 rate, the marginally attached group is added to the numerator (total unemployed) and denominator (total labour force). Also, part-time workers are added to the numerator only since they are in the labour force. The real unemployment rate, U-6, was (7.53 + 1.68 + 5.6) ÷ (159.64 + 1.68) = 9.2% in December 2016. The unemployment rate is a proportion of unemployed persons in the labour force. The economically active population or working- age population (persons between ages 15 and 64) in Nigeria increased from 108.03 million to 108.59 million, representing a 0.5% increase over the previous quarter and a 3.4% increase in Q4 2015. In Q4 2016, the labour force population (i.e., those within the working-age population willing, able, and actively looking for work) increased from 80.67 million in Q3 2016 to 81.15 million representing an increase of 0.6% in the labour force during the quarter. d) Identified Causes of Unemployment in Nigeria i. Rural-Urban Migration: Since the oil boom period in Nigeria, non-disabled people have neglected the agricultural sector and moved to the urban areas searching for non-existing white-collar jobs. This process has reduced employment in agriculture and put pressure on the little or existing urban Jobs. ii. Influx of Alien: With the introduction of the free movement agreement of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS), there has been a rising influx of foreigners into Nigeria, for instance. These aliens are employed in Nigeria at the expense of Nigerians. iii. Poor Utilisation of Government revenue: Using Nigeria as a case study, people in a position of authority misused meant for development and production. This practice affects the number of people who would have been employed. Stealing public funds that are nicked named "Embezzlement" and another form of fraud has affected projects that would have created employment for people. iv. Increase in Population: The rate of birth in Nigeria, for instance, is increasing faster than available jobs. In a situation like this, unemployment is undoubtedly bound to increase. v. Premature Retirements: Many governments in the Less Developed. Countries on the pretext of old age, ill-health, declining productivity, misconduct and other issues as the labour have not met their target in a private establishment. They are a force to mass retrenchment or retirements to check their purported production. This situation causes unemployment. vi. Poor Agricultural Technological Advancement: The use of crude implements like a hoe and cutlasses reduces productivity and profits. Because of not making profits in the sector, people prefer to look for another job. Hence, unemployment springs up. vii. Increase in Educational Policies without Proper Human Capital Formation: There have been expansionary educational policies that have given rise to producing more graduates into the labour market without a job. The government has not created much emphasis on vocational subjects that can create jobs for graduates. So, these graduates come out of school and stay without a job. viii. Deceit of Multinational Corporations: Most of the production done in Nigeria, for instance, does not engage in total production. They only assemble parts. This situation has only given a chance for very few employments while living many unemployed. These corporations make use of computers and other automated machines. This process by the corporations' force people out of a job. ix. Economic Depression: Unemployment can be caused by economic depression. For instance, the 2010 world economic recession affected many nations of the world by forcing corporations to retrench their labour. This recession affects the inflation rate, balance of payment and debt burden; for many nations to handle this situation, they will have to adopt a policy that will lead to unemployment. x. Public Policy: Lampman (1974), in his research on unemployment and its causes, found that good research on the effect of unemployment and an intelligent approach to public policy aimed at preventing or reducing it and would demand some understanding of the causes of unemployment in a given society. Hanson (1977) researched the root cause of the economic setback in post-colonial West Africa, including Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tunisia, and the Ivory Coast. In his result, he discovered that the utter neglect paid on Volume XXI Issue IV Version I 62 ( E ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2021 © 2021 Global Journals Which of these Economics Jargons - Underemployment, Overemployment, Unemployment, Rightemployment, Overqualification and Overeducation is Appropriate for an Economy?