Assessing the socioeconomic challenges of graduate unemployment on the community: the case of Sekela Woreda, Ethiopia

Unemployment, particularly graduate unemployment, brings a huge impact on the community. Thus, the fundamental purpose of the study was to examine the socioeconomic challenges of graduate unemployment in the community. To do this, descriptive research with a cross-sectional design was used to reckon the socioeconomic challenges of graduate unemployment in the community, and a mixed research approach was employed. Accordingly, 279 survey respondents, 6 unemployed graduates, 5 parents of job seekers for the interview, six discussants, and 3 key informants were selected by employed stratified, simple random, and purposive sampling methods. The data which are obtained from survey questionnaires were analyzed through descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were analyzed by narration and thematic. Hereof, the findings depict that families of jobseekers and their community members have faced economic and social-related troubles. Thus, it brings economic bankruptcy, family strain, menanced for social security, and young students have low interest in education because of the presence of graduate unemployment. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.