Abstract:
The aim of this study was to investigate the psychological consequences and coping mechanisms
of unemployment among university graduate students in Dire Enchin town, Oromia Regional
State, Ethiopia. The study adopted a mixed research design, with the researcher employing focus
group discussions, in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, and questionnaires as data
collection instruments. For the quantitative section of the investigation, stratified and basic
random sampling procedures were used. The convenience sampling approach was used as a
sampling methodology for the qualitative part. The quantitative study has a sample size of 138,
but two of the respondents did not return the questionnaries136 people. To collect qualitative
data, 10 unemployed university graduates participated in a focus group discussion and an in depth interview. In addition, four key informants provided qualitative information. The SPSS 24
version was used to evaluate quantitative data. To assess quantitative data, descriptive statistics
were utilized. The Chi-square test was also done to see whether there was any correlation
between some of the variables. The qualitative data was analyzed using both narration and topic
analysis methodologies. According to the conclusions of this study, the most commonly utilized
job search methods are social media and newspapers or job boards. The majority of unemployed
university graduates rely on the help of their family, relatives, or acquaintances to make ends
meet. Self-employment is the preferred career and future aim of the majority of unemployed
university graduates. Unemployed university graduates use a range of job-search techniques,
each of which has its own set of financial and time costs. The social network is the least
expensive of the three in terms of money. Furthermore, all job search tools can spread incorrect
job market information, according to this study. The government should strengthen laws and
policies that allow graduate youth to obtain a high-quality education, reduce the amount of work
experience required for various job openings, develop systems for disseminating job-related
information, and provide career advice to graduate youth who are unemployed, according to the
findings. In general, measures to aid unemployed university graduate students in coping with
unemployment and improving their application behavior should be introduced
