Factors In Employment And Employability Of Female Graduates: A Case Study Of Ado-Ekiti, Ado Local Government Area, Ekiti State.

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the Factors in Employment and Employability of Female graduates in

Ekiti state. The research work was conducted in Ado-Ekiti. Two sets of questionnaire were

completed by Employed and unemployed graduates involved in this study respectively. The 50

employed and 50 unemployed graduates who were studied were selected through purposive

sampling. The questionnaires were designed by the researcher with the aid or research expert to

establish its validity and reliability. Also, interview schedule for 20 employers of labour was

used as an instrument of gathering the data used for the study. Frequency and percentage

distributions were used to describe the data: t-tests and analysis of variance were used to test the

hypotheses formulated. The results of the analysis showed that academic

qualification/achievement significantly influence female graduate's employability in Ekiti State

while academic satisfaction does not significantly influence female graduate's employability in

Ekiti State. Also, twenty employers of labour were interviewed, fifteen said that female

graduate's employability depends on the lmowledge, skills, aptitude, academic achievement (first

class upper, second class upper) and abilities an individual possesses. While the remaining five

said that they employed males more than females in their organization, because the females have

many things to attend to, for example, maternity leave. Based on the findings, it was

recommended among others, that recruiters and employers should collaborate with educational

policy-makers and curriculum developers to develop a curriculum that meet contemporary global

labour market demand. It was also recommended that the stakeholders should consider the

creation of job opportunity as a priority for the intending young graduates rather than increasing number of universities in the country.