SIGNIFICANCE OF EMPLOYMENT ON NIGERIA ECONOMICAL GROWTH

Benson Favour Oyindamola.

Department of Economics, Federal University, Oye, Ekiti State, Nigeria

favourbenson389@gmail.com

Abstract
This study investigated the Significance of employment on Nigeria economic growth from 2017 to 2021.
The proxy for an employment opportunity is the total employment while proxy for economic growth is
gross domestic products. The ex-post facto research design was used since the data were from secondary
sources. The study used descriptive statistic and simple regression analysis to analyze the secondary data
sourced from the National Bureau of Statistic. The result of our analysis shows there is a significant
relationship between total employment and gross domestic product in Nigeria within the period under
review. The study concluded by recommending that more employment opportunities be granted to qualify
Nigerian to improve the living condition of the citizen and also improving the overall well- being of the
Nigeria economy. Also, the objectives of this study were to describe the trend of employment level in
Nigeria; determine factors influencing total employment level; determine the relationship between Total
employment level and economic growth; Proffer recommendations based on research findings on the best
way to improve employment generation potential in Nigeria. Secondary data source from Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) were used for this study. The study adopted
regression analysis and causality tests for the study to achieve the stated objectives. However, the
augmented dickey fuller (ADF) test was conducted to determine the stationarity of macroeconomic
variables. (Gross domestic product (GDP), Inflation, Foreign direct investment (FDI), Interest rate). Result
shows the RSquare 0.72 means that 72 percent of the variation in the dependent variable is explained by
(Gross Domestic Product, Foreign Direct Investment, Interest rate and Inflation).The results further shows
that foreign direct investment, inflation, interest rate have positive relationship with Employment level
(Y).The result of granger causality also shows that GDP granger cause Inflation at 1% level of significant,
FDI Granger cause GDP with a 5% level significant, Interest rate Granger cause GDP at 10% level of
significant, FDI Granger cause Interest rate with a 10% level of significant. The result concluded that Gross
domestic product (GDP), interest rate were factors that contributed to those Employment level in Nigeria.
The research recommended that government should evolve appropriate economic policy so as to reduce the
policies associated with interest rate and low output production (GDP).

Keywords: Employment, Economic growth, Gross domestic product, Nigeria, Regression analysis and
Descriptive statistics.