Abstract:
Graduate unemployment is very high at the national level. Self- employment is one where graduates
seek for employment. This study deals with graduate’s self-employment. The main objective of the
study was to identify major factors that affect graduates participation in self-employment. The study
was conducted in Huruta town Lode Hetosa woreda Arsi Zone (Oromiya Region). For the study
primary data was used and collected from university graduate of 2016 – 2020 living in the study
area (as unemployed or self-employed). The study used randomly selected 142 graduates. In
assessing the determinant factors that affect graduates’ self employment the study employed
descriptive statistics and logistic regression model. It was found that only 43 (about 30%) of them
are self- employed while the rest 99 (or 70%) of them are unemployed. The study found that training
on job creation, parental experience in self-employment and duration in search of paid employment
(in years) positively and significantly affect the probability of graduate’s self-employment. It was
also found the relative participation of female graduates in self-employment is better than their male
counterpart. Lacks of start-up fund, limited experience in self-employment, absence of support are
cited by graduates as main factors that deter them in engaging in self-employment. The respondent
also indicated that family or community response to joining self –employment is not encouraging.
Based on the results, the study made the following recommendations: enhancing training on job
creation, redesigning education system such that it will vitalize self-employment prospect and
improve accessibility of start-up fund to graduates.
