Youth Unemployment and Its Impact on Nigeria’s Economic Development

Abstract

This study examined the impact of youth unemployment on Nigeria’s Economic Development. Secondary data from the National Bureau of Statistics, World Bank and Central Bank of Nigeria for a seven year period from 2010-2016 was examined. Conclusions were reached based on the findings using the data available on unemployed youths between the ages of 15-44yrs. Purposive sampling technique was adopted from Nigeria’s GDP, labour force, government spending, labour efficiency, import and export, labour hours lost, population, unemployment rate, youth unemployment rate for a period of seven years. The variables adopted measured the impact of unemployment among youths on GDP, Crime and Labour efficiency in Nigeria. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used and hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation bivariate for 1-tailed test at 5% level of significance with the use of SPSS v.20. The research observed that despite the increase in youth unemployment, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product has not declined; the rate of crime though on the increase has not increased significantly as a result of youth unemployment despite the increase in arrests being made. Also, despite the increase in youth unemployment rate, labour productivity has increased based on data available but close to $2 which is not quite impressive based on labour hours spent, while the total hours lost on production has increased as computed on a 12hrs per day for 365days based on the total labour force figure. Also, government spending on importation has also increased considerably while the total labour force for the period remained underutilized.

Keywords: Youth Unemployment, Population, Gross Domestic Product, Labour Efficiency, Crime.