Effect of Education on Youth Unemployment in Nigeria

Abstract

The Nigerian economy has undergone structural changes precisely the improvement of the educational system since independence. However, this effort does not provide adequate employment opportunities to the teeming youths as a large number of the country’s teeming youths unemployed are certificate holders. This study examines the relationship between education and youth unemployment in Nigeria, Also, it ascertains the causality between education and youth unemployment in Nigeria. This study employed secondary data of a period from 1990 to 2021 estimation technique. Also, Autoregressive Distributive Lag model (ARDL) and the Causality test was employed to examine the causal relationship between education and youth unemployment. The findings indicate that education impacts positively on youth unemployment if it is in line with the labour market demand. Also, it indicates that the improvement of GDP does not necessarily increase job opportunities to Nigeria’s teeming youth. This is connected to the most economic sectors’ improvements do not lead to expansion and establishment of new firms to absorb youths in the labour market. The study recommended that Nigeria’s educational policies must change towards the creation of more jobs opportunities to the teeming youths. Moreover, economic sectors like agriculture and manufacturing sectors should be given more priority because of their influence in providing job opportunities.