Unemployment

Perspectives On Unemployment in Nigeria: Lessons from Cuban Economy (Published)

Unemployment is a ubiquitous phenomenon in all economies. Though most empirical studies assert that unemployment is higher in less developed economies as compared to developed one; it is an established fact that no country has the capacity to provide jobs for all its citizen at same time. Hence, the attainment or maintenance of an acceptable rate of unemployment is a major concern of public policy formulators.  Despite the numerous economic challenges, Cuba has the one of the lowest rate of unemployment in the world. How has it managed to achieve and maintain this? What did they do particularly different? The developing countries need this information to be able to deal with this seemingly intractable problem. Thus, the paper examined the economic strategy used by Cuba to tackle unemployment and identify some lessons for developing economies like Nigeria.         

Keywords: Developing Economies, Unemployment, economic strategy, empirical studies.

‘’Japa’’ Syndrome: Causes, Effects and Solutions for Sustainable National Development (Published)

It is no longer news that the ‘’JAPA’’ syndrome is a national issue which has paralyzed virtually all sector of the economy nationwide. The study assessed ‘’Japa’’ syndrome causes, effects and solutions for sustainable national development. ‘’Japa’’, means to run, to flee or to escape. This is coined from Yoruba language which is used to describe the massive exodus of Nigerians to other countries and search of greener pastures. The causes identified includes bad governance, unemployment, insecurity which has resulted into terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom. Incessant strikes in tertiary institutions and poor working conditions. The effects of the mass migration include Brain- drain, lack of expertise or competent hands in various field such as health, education, technology, artisans among others. In other to find solutions to the problems of JAPA syndrome it was recommended that the government should brace up with improving the economic situation of the country by providing employment opportunities, by also encouraging entrepreneurship by giving loans with little interest to willing entrepreneurs. The government should improve the security of the nation so as to encourage investors and expertise to develop the nation’s economy. By providing infrastructural facilities and making the work environment conducive for work and the workers thereby reducing Brain-drain among others.

Keywords: Security, Terrorism, Unemployment, japa syndrome, work environment

While Poor and Lower Income Taxpayers are Forced to Subsidize the Lifestyle of Well-To-Do Elites, Evidence in the Current Research Suggested no Reliable Data have ever Existed for Scientific Analysis that Suggested Pollution or Manmade Contribution to Climate Change: Presenting Eddison Walters Climate Change Research Deception and Misinformation Theory (Published)

There is no debate the climate on earth is changing but research conducted by Walters and Djokic (2022) presented evidence that established, studies that attribute pollution or manmade cause and effect in climate change research are based on junk science. The study presented evidence that suggested, scientific data analysis linking manmade causes or pollution to climate change does not exist. Walters and Djokic Quantitative Analysis Factor Distortion Theory expanded Eddison Walters Modern Economic Analysis Theory which was developed by Walters (2020A) and was expanded by Walters and Djokic (2022). Walters and Djokic Quantitative Analysis Factor Distortion Theory which was explained in Walters and Djokic (2022) resulted in proposed changes by the researchers to restore the reliability and creditability of data analysis in scientific research. The researchers called for the implementation of changes to American Psychological Association (APA) standards aimed at avoiding junk science such as research that incorrectly links pollution or manmade causes to climate change without scientific evidence based on scientific data analysis from being accepted into the body of literature as scientific research (Walters, 2020: Walters, 2021; Walters & Djokic, 2022). The foundation of Walters and Djokic Quantitative Analysis Factor Distortion Theory is grounded in the principle, of “all else being equal”, which has been a long-established principle for the scientific analysis of data to ensure unknown factors do not distort the results of data analysis. The current study applied the principles of Walter and Djokic Quantitative Analysis Factor Distortion Theory for evaluating the creditability of directing taxpayer resources to green energy policies aimed and reversing climate change. The current study also considered what segment of the population benefits the most from green energy policies and what segment of the population shoulders the cost burden. The current study considered the opportunity cost of allocating taxpayer resources to implement green energy policy by considering challenges facing American taxpayers where the results of investments have quantifiable scientific measurements for successful implementation rather than committing resources to implement green energy policy with no quantifiable scientific measurements for successful implementation.

Keywords: Credit to Private Sector, Educational Investment, Unemployment, government recurrent expenditure, labour force participation rate

Educational Investment and Unemployment in Nigeria (Published)

Education is a fundamental human right and is essential for the development and progress of any nation. It is a general belief that educated individuals fare better in the labour market than the less educated. This study empirically examines investment and expenditures in education, and its influence on unemployment rate in Nigeria from 1991 to 2021. Unit root test, ARDL approach, bound test, Breusch Godfrey serial correlation LM test and the CUSUM test were employed. Unemployment rate (UER) was used as the dependent variable while Federal government recurrent expenditure (GEE), credit to private sector (CPS), average of school enrollment rate (ASE) as proxy for literacy rate, labour force participation rate (LFP) and gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) as the independent variables. Findings revealed that apart from UEM that is stationary at the level, the other variables are stationary at first difference given the 5% level of significance.  Labour force participation rate is statistically significant. There is an insignificant positive relationship between government recurrent expenditure on education and unemployment rate in the long -run. On the other hand, credit to private sector, school enrolment rate, and gross fixed capital formation all conform to their a priori expectations, but are insignificant, i.e., statistically indifferent from zero. The study recommended among others that an actionable and working fiscal policy in the educational sector should be established and government should improve on the quality of institutions through better teacher training, investment in educational research development, and the establishment of vocational training centers that provide practical skills to students.

 

Keywords: Credit to Private Sector, Educational Investment, Unemployment, government recurrent expenditure, labour force participation rate

Rising Youth Unemployment and The Socio-Economic Realities in Nigeria: The Akwa Ibom State Experience (Published)

This paper was undertaken to establish the interplay between youth unemployment and resultant negative socio-economic realities in Nigeria as evident in Akwa Ibom State. Nigeria’s population and that of Akwa Ibom State is currently (July, 2022) estimated at about 206 and 7 million respectively with a progressive average growth rate of 3.5 percent per annum. Out of this number, while more than 35 percent at the national level, over 52 percent of the youth in Akwa Ibom State are unemployed. This situation, as the paper observed, is occasioned by crucial factors ranging from the poor state of the economy and educational standard, poor attitude to agriculture, poor enabling and secured environment, scarcity of data on informal employment and entrepreneurship, poor economic growth rate and wrong impression about technical and vocational education. Furthermore, the paper noted that the prevailing unemployment among youth in Akwa Ibom State has engendered high rate of social vices such as prostitution, armed robbery, oil bunkering, internet fraud, drug trafficking and addiction, rape, kidnapping, political thuggery, assassination and other acts of criminalities. For the way forward, the paper proffered, among others, that the Akwa Ibom State government should redesigned the education sector to become technology-based in order to enhance skill acquisition for self-employment as well as encourage the youth to embrace agriculture as a profitable business venture. Moreover, honest effort should be made towards revitalizing the moribund and ailing industries in the state.

Victor E. Ita  and  John E. Bassey (2022) Rising Youth Unemployment and The Socio-Economic Realities in Nigeria: The Akwa Ibom State Experience, International Journal of Development and Economic Sustainability, Vol.10, No.4, pp.1-14

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Self-employment, Unemployment, Youth, economic growth, social vices

Entrepreneurship Development and Youth Employment in Nigeria: Perspectives on Selected Entrepreneurship Schemes (Published)

The study examined the relationship between entrepreneurship development and youth employment in Nigeria. It focused on two empowerment schemes: Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP) and Youth Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture in Nigeria (YISA). The nation’s unemployment record, especially among youth, is alarming. A National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report in 2018 shows that, out of the 85million labour force in Nigeria, 34million are unemployed and underemployed youths, with 25million largely uneducated. The YEDP and YISA schemes were designed to train and make youths entrepreneurs that would be self-employed and also employ others. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to show that in spite of the conscious and frantic efforts by government and non-governmental organizations through the framework of YEDP and YISA to address the unemployment challenge in the country not so much has been achieved. The study revealed that the programmes have created a number of entrepreneurs and employment for young people across the country. Nonetheless, these efforts have not significantly yielded the desired outcomes of massive job creation for the youths and ensuring national food security. To achieve desired results, using the agricultural value chain, there is need to adopt scientific knowledge based agricultural production. Hence the paper concluded that for Nigeria to address the twin challenges of massive unemployment and national food insecurity agricultural activities should be scientific and greatly modernized. The study recommended, among other things, that integrated farming approach, involving large variety of activities per hectare should be adopted and there should be substantial investment in R&D to generate new ideas and high yielding seeds for the new entrepreneur-farmers.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Food Security, Uneducated., Unemployment, Value Chain, Youths

Entrepreneurship Development and Youth Employment in Nigeria: Perspectives on Selected Entrepreneurship Schemes (Published)

The study examined the relationship between entrepreneurship development and youth employment in Nigeria. It focused on two empowerment schemes: Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP) and Youth Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture in Nigeria (YISA). The nation’s unemployment record, especially among youth, is alarming. A National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report in 2018 shows that, out of the 85million labour force in Nigeria, 34million are unemployed and underemployed youths, with 25million largely uneducated. The YEDP and YISA schemes were designed to train and make youths entrepreneurs that would be self-employed and also employ others. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to show that in spite of the conscious and frantic efforts by government and non-governmental organizations through the framework of YEDP and YISA to address the unemployment challenge in the country not so much has been achieved. The study revealed that the programmes have created a number of entrepreneurs and employment for young people across the country. Nonetheless, these efforts have not significantly yielded the desired outcomes of massive job creation for the youths and ensuring national food security. To achieve desired results, using the agricultural value chain, there is need to adopt scientific knowledge based agricultural production. Hence the paper concluded that for Nigeria to address the twin challenges of massive unemployment and national food insecurity agricultural activities should be scientific and greatly modernized. The study recommended, among other things, that integrated farming approach, involving large variety of activities per hectare should be adopted and there should be substantial investment in R&D to generate new ideas and high yielding seeds for the new entrepreneur-farmers.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Food Security, Uneducated., Unemployment, Value Chain, Youths

The Role of Small Medium Enterprises in Reducing the Problem of Unemployment in Jordan (Published)

The Jordanian economy is mainly considered a SMEs based economy where small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute 98% of Jordanian enterprises and their Employees represent around 60% of the labor force with a total product counts around 50% of the GDP. SMEs sector has been faced with many challenges that have started with development happening in Jordan into a highly freed and open market economy. The whole thing was quickly moving and upgrading, which resulted in a biased and a long-lasting effect on SMEs. Jordan started its open market policy and deregulation in 2000 and then Nine years later the SMEs sector was affected again with the economic disaster. SME plays an essential role in improving Jordanian employment section. This research shows the impact of SMEs in reducing the problem of Unemployment in Jordon. It highlights the main factors affecting the improvement and job opportunities creation. There is increasing evidence that SMEs play an essential role in the economic development in Jordan. SME’s provide the majority of new jobs opportunities and produce much of the creativity that leads economic progress. SMEs is the only solution to open new job opportunities to a huge number of Jordanians. This paper highlights this to measure how SMEs can reduce unemployment problem in any country and considering Jordan as case study.

Keywords: Economic Development, Job opportunities creation., Small Medium Enterprises, Unemployment

The Effect of Nigerian Elites Overseas Medical Treatment on Nigerian Economy (Published)

The main objective of this study is examines the effect of Nigerian elite’ overseas medical treatment on the economy of Nigeria. Both quantitative and qualitative data collected through informal interview and structured questionnaire administered to a sample of 102 Nigerian elites across the thirty six states of Nigeria. The data were analyzes using, mean average and multiple regression analysis. The result shows that Nigerian elite’ overseas medical treatment has negative and statistically significant effects on the Nigerian economy. More so, Nigerian elite’ overseas medical treatment have effect on the capital flight and unemployment. Based on this findings it is therefore recommended that Nigeria governments and stakeholders in health sector at all level should formulate appropriate policy that will discourage Nigerian elite overseas medical treatment by provide necessary world class medical infrastructures with best medical team that are well qualify to managed this medical institution. Furthermore, provision of quality of healthcare delivery in the country; restore the confidence of Nigerian elites in the health sector, and, more importantly, create the enabling environment for the nation’s brains in the Diaspora to return home and boost our medical tourism.

Keywords: Capital Flight, Elites Overseas Medical Treatment, Unemployment

Impact of Price Instability on Unemployment and Economic Growth in Nigeria: An Empirical Analysis (Published)

This study is an empirical examination of the impact of price instability on unemployment and economic growth in Nigeria between 1986 to 2015. Main variables used in this study are unemployment, inflation rate (proxy for consumer price index), GDP growth rates, Foreign Direct Investment, Investment (proxied by Gross Fix Capital Formation) Interest Rate, Imports, Exports, Exchange Rate and Per Capita Income. The sources of data are statistical bulletins published by World Bank Development Indicators (WBDI) and Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin 2015 respectively. There are three regression equations in which the relationship between dependent and independent variables have been tested. The first model is explaining the effect of inflation or price instability and other macroeconomic variables on GDP in Nigeria. The second model explains the effects of unemployment and other economic variables on real GDP while the third model is formulated to describe the effect of macroeconomic variables on unemployment in Nigeria. To achieve these objectives, stationarity tests were conducted with simple Ordinary Least Square using E-views version 8 software.  Results from Augmented Dickey Fuller and Philips-Perron unit root test reveals that all the series in the models were stationary, with evidence of a unique long run relationship among the variables in the model. Findings from the OLS regression output reveals the coefficients of imports, exports, exchange rate and manufacturing growth rate as having negative effect on the key dependent variables of gdp-growth rate, price instability and unemployment rate. On the contrary, the coefficients of investment, per capita income and foreign direct investment show positive relationship with the dependent variables in the model. Major policy recommendations of this study are as follows: Government should embark on policies that will reduce the number of imported goods drastically and encourage local production and consumption to encourage domestic industries. This will help reduce unemployment and inflation in Nigeria and improve the gross domestic product figures greatly. Furthermore, over the years, foreign partners in Nigeria has had cause to repatriate their investible funds back to their shores as Nigeria increasingly became unsafe destinations for businesses owing to streams of violence and kidnappings across the country. Government should therefore engage the various agitators and stakeholders across the nation such as the Niger-Delta militants, IPOD/MASSOB and Fulani herdsmen with a view to finding lasting solutions to their demand for genuine peace to be entrenched in the polity. This is one sure way to encourage more foreign inflow of capital for economic growth.

Keywords: OLS, Price Instability, Unemployment, economic growth