Population growth and human resource utilization nexus in Nigeria
Open Access
- 4 November 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Emerald in Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences
- Vol. 3 (4), 281-298
- https://doi.org/10.1108/jhass-06-2020-0088
Abstract
Purpose: Population growth has remained a key issue facing developing economies in the world. While developed countries are experiencing diminished or negative population growth, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria are having population growth above the economic growth rate. With the deadline for the sustainable development goals approaching, attention is increasingly being focused on population growth and human capital development. Extant literature focused on population growth, human resource utilization and economic growth but this study aims to examine the effect of population growth on human resource utilization. Design/methodology/approach: Using secondary data for the period 1990-2018, the study conducted unit root test and co-integration analyses to determine the stationarity and correlation in the long-run in the variables. The study used the error correction model to ascertain the speed at which shocks can be corrected in the long-run. Granger causality test was also carried out to ascertain the direction of causality among the variables. Findings: The empirical results revealed that population growth has a negative and significant effect on human resource utilization. The study also revealed that unidirectional causality runs from employment rate to population growth rate and a unidirectional causality runs from employment growth rate to expected years of schooling. The Nigerian Government needs to not only control population growth but also focus on the quality of education. Originality/value: The paper provides insights into the relationship between population growth and human capital utilization in Nigeria focusing on the 1986-2018 period.Keywords
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- Internal Migration and Development: Comparing Migration Intensities Around the WorldPopulation and Development Review, 2015
- Human Capital Investment and Economic Growth in NigeriaAfrican Research Review, 2015
- Demographic, socio-economic and clinical characteristics: implications for time to presentation at a Nigerian tertiary ophthalmic outpatient populationPublic Health, 2014
- Managing human resources in SMEs in a transition economy: evidence from ChinaThe International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2010
- The effect of the minimum wage on employment and hoursLabour Economics, 2000
- Numerical distribution functions of likelihood ratio tests for cointegrationJournal of Applied Econometrics, 1999
- MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATION AND INFERENCE ON COINTEGRATION — WITH APPLICATIONS TO THE DEMAND FOR MONEYOxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 1990
- Testing for a unit root in time series regressionBiometrika, 1988
- Co-Integration and Error Correction: Representation, Estimation, and TestingEconometrica, 1987
- Distribution of the Estimators for Autoregressive Time Series With a Unit RootJournal of the American Statistical Association, 1979