LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA: A DISAGGREGATED SECTOR ANALYSIS

This study examined the relationship between labour productivity and economic growth in Nigeria covering the period of 1980 to 2015. Auto- regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was used for the analysis since some variables incorporated in the model were stationary at level while others were integrated at first difference at 5% level of significance. The study found that there is significant relationship between labour productivity and agricultural sector growth and between labour productivity and the growth in the service sector. However, there was no significant relationship between labour productivity and manufacturing sector growth and between labour productivity and the growth in the oil and gas sector. The study therefore recommends that the Nigerian government should continue to investment in human resource development that could improve labour productivity in all the sectors in the recent changing world towards highly technological growth oriented economy, and should create an enabling environment for the agricultural sector through advancing of loans to farmers and manufacturers through formal financial institutions.