Nexus between Agriculture and Unemployment in Nigeria

This study examined the impact of agriculture sector growth on unemployment level as well as the direction of causality between agricultural sector output and unemployment level in Nigeria. Secondary annual time series data between 1981 and 2016 were used for the study. Data on unemployment rate, agriculture sector output, public expenditure and industrial output were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s statistical Bulletin while data on FDI and population growth were obtained from the World Bank World Development Indicators. The data were analyzed using ADF (Augmented Dickey Fuller Test) unit root test, Autoregressive distributed lag Bounds test of cointegration, Autoregressive distributed lag error correction model estimation and Granger causality. The results of ADF unit root test revealed variables were at different orders of integration, the ARDL bounds test revealed cointegration between variables, and the Autoregressive distributed lag error correction model estimation revealed that change in agriculture output in the current period is negative and significant for current unemployment level in Nigeria, while the change in one period lagged agriculture output was positive and significant for current unemployment level in Nigeria. Also the error correction term indicated that about 74.10 percent of the disequilibrium in the system in the previous year would be corrected in the current year. Granger causality test results revealed bi-directional causality between agriculture output and unemployment level in Nigeria. The study recommends that the Nigeria government should using strategic policies targeted at boosting agriculture output such as increasing access to land for peasant rural farmers, investments in agricultural research, and so on, seek to boost agriculture output in order to reduce unemployment in Nigeria. Further, the Nigeria government should ensure that agriculture sector development policies are consistent with the objective of reducing unemployment in Nigeria.