Unemployment, by default, is the
difference between the labour gainfully employed at the wages and working
conditions that exist, and the amount of labour available, however, Gbosi
(2006) defined unemployment as a situation in which people
who are willing to
work at the prevailing wage rate are unable to find jobs. This implies that not
just anyone who is to be counted as part of the unemployed labour force, in
order to avoid over estimation of the official rate of unemployment.
The international labour organization
(ILO) defines unemployed in this manner, “the unemployed is a member of the
economically active population, who are without work but available for and
seeking for work, including people who have lost their jobs and those who have
voluntarily left work (World Bank, 1998). The application of this definition across
countries has been faulted, especially for the purpose of comparison and policy
formulation, as countries characteristics are not the same in their commitment
to resolving unemployment problems (Douglason et al, 2006).
The rate of unemployment in Nigeria can
be attributed to a lot of factors including the depression in the 1980s and
during the late 1970s. Economic downturn leads to the implementation of
stabilization measures which includes restriction on exports, to increase
dependency on Nigeria manufacturing enterprises and the resultant effect are
mostly not positive.
The analysis by educational status in
past years suggests that people who have been majority affected by unemployment
are these without basic education, however today, even the educated have acute
troubles getting employed.
It is impressive to note here that in
2003, Nigerian’s unemployment rate declined to the various government efforts
aimed at addressing the problem through poverty alleviation programmes. This
decline also pointed to an increased number of people who got engaged in the
informal sector activities. They also found that education of owner of a
business enterprise was a significant factor influencing efficiency. They
conclude that the evidence of variations in efficiency is indicative of the
need for more proactive actions to raise the level of efficiency and employment
among the firms in the sample.
Employment generation has been seen as
a means of alleviating poverty, increasing the level of economic activities which
translate into economic growth. The situation of unemployment in Africa,
Nigeria as a case study has been on increase which has resulted in increases in
social vices among other negatives. Although the Nigeria government put in
place policies and programmes which are meant to combat this menace, but the
inadequacies of implementation and up till now these programmes have not made
much impact.
According to Bloom, (2000); if Nigeria
is able to overcome it challenges and collect its demographic dividend, we
estimate that:
v Nigeria can obtain almost 12% increased
GDP per capital over the default scenario by 2020 and more than 29% increased
GDP per capita by 2030. With additional modest institutional improvement, the
extra GDP per capita over the default scenario could be almost 13% by 2020 and
31% by 2030.
v With the demographic dividend,
Nigeria’s economy can be 3 times larger than today in 2030, instead of only 2
times larger without the demographic dividend.
v By realizing the demographic dividend,
Nigeria can lift about 5.8 million more people out of poverty by 2020 and about
31.8 million by 2030, over and above the default scenario. With institutional
improvement, the number of additional people lifted out of poverty can be 34 million
by 2030.
v By increasing investment in human
capital as fertility rates decline, Nigeria could increases GDP by nearly 50%
and sustain that gain indefinitely.
But to realize its demographic dividend, we estimate
that Nigeria will need to create around 24 million new jobs in the next decade
and around 50 million new jobs over 2010 – 2030. Further, the jobs will have to
be productive. This will require increasing Nigeria’s human capital which
cannot be achieved without strong investments in health, educations, gender
parity, and institutions. In particular, the role of education is so closely
tied together with health, gender parity and institutions that any specific
intervention that ignores the other three aspects is very unlikely to work. Even
if some benefits are realizable in the short term, they will not be sustainable
(Bloom, 2010).Order for the complete project Now.
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