YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY IN NIGERIA: THE NEXUS

Within the framework of labour productivity theory, the paper examined the interface between youth unemployment and labour productivity i as they relate to growth of Nigerian economy. The paper employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods to examine the incidence of youth unemployment as a function of labour productivity, agricultural, manufacturing and services contributions to real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as well as population and inflation rate in which the growth rate of the variables were modeled. It concludes that youth unemployment, agricultural and services contributions to real GDP. It also revealed that there is have positive relationship between youth unemployment and labour productivity in Nigeria. It recommend among others, that since more employment means more income for the poor, which in turn implies a greater demand for basic locally produced goods and services. It is important for government to ensure growth and development of the rural and small-scale urban sectors. This should consider, very seriously, encouraging people to establish more labour-intensive small scale enterprises which have the propensity to create more jobs and higher incomes. This programme, if well implemented, could reverse the rural urban drift which has seriously affected the urban employment. However, in order to achieve this goal, a complementary policy of removing factor-price distortions and promoting labour-intensive technologies of production may be required