ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to ascertain the relationship between population growth and unemployment in Benin City. It reveals the causes of unemployment, effects of population growth rate on unemployment, how population growth can be controlled, and the solutions to unemployment in Benin City.
Data for this study were collected from the secondary and primary sources. The secondary data was gathered from extant literatures that borders on the subject matter while the primary data was collected from (120) respondents with the aid of a questionnaire. The data gotten with the structured questionnaire was then analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22, and presented using frequency count, percentage and tables. The hypothesis was tested using the Spearman Rank correlation technique.
The study found that unemployment is a serious problem in Benin City, even those who are employed are under employed. It was revealed that majority of the respondents still earn below a monthly income of N 60,000 though they have tertiary level education. The study found that this is a major problem and setback to productivity as majority of the respondents (80.0%) of the total number of respondents of the study stated that they are not satisfied with their income range. It was found that high birth rate (40.0%) was the most contributing factor to over population in Benin City. According to this study, when over population is in place several effects are observed such as Traffic Jam (22.5%), Birth control policy (1.7%), Unemployment (40.0%), Crowded residences (25.0%), and Pollution (10.8%). This finding show that unemployment is the major effect of over population in Benin City. It was found that Lack of job opportunities (41.7%), and Bad government policy (37.5%) are the main causes of unemployment in Benn City. The study also revealed the strategies for solving the problem of over population in Benin City which include the discouragement of migration (30.0%), and encouraging family Planning (28.3%). From these findings, it was discovered that there is a relationship between population growth and unemployment in Benin City
The study concluded that Unemployment is a major problem in Benin City. Based on this findings, the study recommends that the government of Benin City should build more establishment that can accommodate more of the population in Benin City in terms of employment. Also, Empowerment Seminars and skill acquisition training should be periodically organized to teach and encourage people to setup up their own businesses as this will reduce the dependency government and create self-employment.
