The combination of technological unemployment and oversupply of graduates has increased competition in the labour markets. Postgraduates have been noted to hold more than one job and in some cases apply for jobs meant for undergraduates. Could this imply that post graduates have created more overall unemployment than undergraduates have, in the Ugandan labour market? This is the novel of this study. This was accomplished by a statistical model that comparatively analysed the bi-causal effect of postgraduates on unemployment; versus effect of undergraduates on unemployment. As such, the study utilised Uganda’s secondary data from 1991 to 2017, and employed the Vector Error Correction (VECM) model. The results of the study showed the existence of a long run impact of both the postgraduates and undergraduates on overall unemployment, but an insignificant impact in the short run. The postgraduates had a greater impact on unemployment in the long run, than the undergraduates. The study therefore reveals an affirmative answer to the aforementioned question.
There have been several attempts in developing countries to reduce both graduate and overall unemployment; with the majority attempts centered on changes in the education sector. To better understand this avenue, this study intends to comparatively establish the impact of the two broad discipline categories of- Arts and science related disciplines- on the overall unemployment. The study employed the Vector autoregressive (VAR) model to analyse Uganda’s data between 1991 and 2017. The findings of the study showed that the arts/humanities graduates have a slightly higher impact on unemployment than their counterparts from the science/technology disciplines in the short run in Uganda; with both groups of graduates having no significant effect on unemployment in the long run.
The experiences of employees from developed countries affirm that those from science/ technology-related disciplines benefit more through more technological inventions, than those from the Arts/ Humanities-related disciplines. The study utilizes statistical data of higher education graduates to determine a causal link between graduates from the two fore mentioned academic disciplines, and labour productivity in the developing country of Uganda. The data from 1985 to 2017 were analysed using the Vector Error Correction model, and revealed that arts graduates wereas productive as the science graduates. The findings also show the existence of long-term relationship between academic discipline and labour productivity, as well as a bi-causality between the variables under study.
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