Research Document: The NESG Report on Growing an Inclusive Economy

Posted Fri, Jul 26, 2019 11:38 AM

Nigeria continues to rebound from the economic recession in 2016. The economy that contracted severely between 2016 and 2017 has been on a trail of recovery since mid-2017. The oil sector has been the most robust with a notable acceleration in growth, which eventually pulls the string on the overall comeback. Other sectors of the economy, such as Services and Manufacturing, have equally shown some pickup. There is no doubt that disruption in the global oil supply and the ensued sudden changes in oil price in 2014 had consequences on the significant drawdown in economic growth. By extension, it could be inferred that the improvement in oil price has a material impact on the country’s economic recovery.

Jobless economic growth continues after the recession. Despite repeated signals that growth is resuming, unemployment and under-unemployment remain high. At the onset of the recession in 2015, 8 out of 100 persons in the labour force were unemployed and another

17 persons were engaged in jobs that grossly underutilized their skills, corresponding to 5.5 million and 12.2 million individuals respectively. These groups have grown substantially, with a sharp increase, particularly among the unemployed labour force. As of 2018, the population of unemployed and underemployed persons was 20.9 million and 18.2 million, respectively. That signals the existence of a substantial level of spare capacity in the economy and signals the gravity of non-inclusive economic growth in the country.