A Gender-Disaggregated Analysis of Labour Market Performance and Economic Growth in Nigeria

This study examined the relationship between gender-disaggregated labour-market performance and economic growth in Nigeria, with emphasis on the quality of male and female labour-market participation rather than participation rates alone. The study was motivated by the concern that aggregate labour indicators often concealed gender-based differences in employment quality, productivity, informality, underemployment and access to growth-enhancing work. Using annual Nigerian data covering 1991 to 2025, the study constructed male and female labour-quality indices from labour force participation, employment-to-population ratio and unemployment indicators, while controlling for foreign direct investment and inflation. The empirical analysis employed descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, unit root testing, ARDL bounds testing and dynamic ARDL estimation. The findings showed that gender-disaggregated labour-market performance was relevant to Nigeria’s growth process. The ARDL bounds test confirmed the existence of a long-run relationship among economic growth, female labour-market quality, male labour-market quality, foreign direct investment and inflation. The results further showed that improvements in female labour-market quality were positively associated with economic growth, while inflation had a negative effect on growth. The implied long-run estimates indicated that female labour-market quality had a stronger long-run association with economic growth than the male labour-quality index within the estimated model. These findings suggested that Nigeria’s gender-growth challenge was not merely about increasing women’s labour force participation, but about improving the productivity, formality, stability and growth-linkage of women’s work. The study concluded that gender-inclusive labour-market reform should be treated as an economic-growth strategy. It recommended policies that promote female skills development, the formalisation of women-owned enterprises, childcare and care-support systems, gender-responsive investment incentives, improved labour-market data systems and macroeconomic stability.