The Policy Thrust of the National Directorate of Employment in Combating Mass Unemployment in Southwestern Nigeria: Rural Employment Creation

Abstract

The study examined the policy thrust of the National Directorate of Employment in combating mass unemployment in Southwestern Nigeria with a view to providing information on the extent to which National Directorate of Employment has contributed to rural employment in Southwestern Nigeria. Nigeria’s labour market is characterized by a high percentage of underemployment, a large public sector, and unfavorable working conditions. Both underemployment and unemployment persist in the informal market, leading to underutilization of the Country resources. (Mitchell, 2023).The Directorate uses training as a vehicle for stimulating youth interest in taking agriculture as a vocation and discovering agricultural value-chain business possibilities that may lead to the development of jobs and wealth so alsothe settlement of the beneficiaries who are already trained to start small-scale agro-allied and agro-based ventures yet the challenge of unemployment seem not to be abated