Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.

Department of Business Administration, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
Unemployment ,Graduates ,Economy ,Socio-economic security , Labour force ,Trend ,

Unemployment remains one of the serious problems facing the Nigerian state and when government does not seems to understand the real magnitude of the challenge, it creates the impression that solution is far from view. The scourge has become a major problem bedeviling the lives of Nigerian youth, causing increased militancy, violent crimes, kidnappings, restiveness and socially delinquent behaviour. This paper examines the rate of unemployment in Nigeria and compares the observation with that of U.S. using data on unemployment from both countries from 1995 to 2011. It is observed that the rate is higher in Nigeria in all the years under study. Test of independence of means reveals a significant difference in the unemployment rate between the two countries; however, there is a relatively high and significant correlation coefficient between the unemployment rates between the two countries. Linear regression also show significant regression coefficient for the two countries with that of Nigeria higher than that of U.S. Against this background, we suggest that there is the need for the government at all levels, and other stakeholders to embark on various policies and processes that will encourage massive job creation and reduce unemployment.

5 , 8 , 2015