MANUFACTURING SECTOR PERFORMANCE AND EMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA: THE INTERACTIVE ROLE OF INFRASTRUCTURE

The manufacturing sector in Nigeria has experienced stunted growth, limiting its capacity to generate employment and contribute to industrialization. There is a need to examine mediums through which the manufacturing sector can improve its employment generation capacity. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the interactive role of infrastructure in the relationship between manufacturing sector performance and employment. To examine the impact of manufacturing sector performance on employment, the study uses autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and finds that manufacturing sector performance positively impacts employment in the short run but not significantly in the long run. Furthermore, employing the interaction effect model to examine the interactive role of infrastructure in the relationship between manufacturing sector performance and employment, the study finds that the interaction between access to electricity and manufacturing sector performance and the interaction between medium-high technology and manufacturing sector performance significantly impacts employment. The study recommends that the Nigerian government and other relevant policy agencies pay more attention to the manufacturing sector to improve the sector’s capacity to generate more employment opportunities through the availability and accessibility of infrastructure. Keywords: Access to Electricity, Employment, Interaction Effect, Manufacturing Sector Performance, Medium and High Technology DOI： https://doi.org/10.35741/issn.0258-2724.58.4.83