Economic Growth and Employment in Nigeria’s Services Sector

Abstract

The paper examines the effect of economic growth on employment in Nigeria’s services sector during the period from 1991 to 2020. The ARDL approach to cointegration and error correction modeling is employed for the analysis. The study finds that economic growth spurs employment generation in the services sector in the short-run and in the long-run. It further finds that employment generation in the services sector is also spurred by trade openness and financial sector development, but adversely affected by inflation. In view of these, it is recommended that Nigeria’s government intensify effort in accelerating the nation’s economic growth, bringing inflation under control, developing the nation’s financial system and cautiously integrating the economy with the global market.