Public Spending for Growth-Induced Employment: The Nigerian Experience

Abstract

Rising unemployment has become a global phenomenon with its attendant social vices. Both developed and developing countries now grapple to cope with the problems of unemployment arising from global recession. Unemployment in Nigeria has assumed a more dangerous dimension with over 40 million Nigerian youths not having any chances of securing jobs in the next 10 years. The lack of elaborate employment policy has made matters worse. Efforts in this article were focused on identifying potent factors in public spending –economic growth-government revenue employment nexus which could be constituted into dynamic employment policy instruments. The study revealed that deficit financing of recurrent expenditure was a most important single factor inhibiting public spending from inducing economic growth for employment generation. It was recommended, inter alia, that to ensure its efficiency, tax policy, pricing policy, exchange-rate policy and credit policy should form integral components of a country’s employment policy.