LABOUR MARKET POLICIES, EMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Labour reforms in Nigeria rooted on neo-liberalism have led to flexible labour laws. This has reconfigured the labour market policies under the growing hegemony of capital that placed capital before the people and has given impetus to the ascendancy of anti-worker and anti-union managerial ethos that creates a race to the bottom of labour standards. Under these new labour policies, permanent jobs are gradually being eroded and replaced by contract or casual appointments by an increasing reliance by employers on labour hire via employment agencies. This has led to massive loss of jobs and worsening of the human development, especially poverty and inequality. Thus, this paper explores linkages between labour market policies and employment status of Nigerians, economic growth and poverty reduction. The paper relies on secondary data sourced from books, journal articles and reports of periodicals and employed descriptive analysis to establish the trends. The paper recommends among others that there is need to monitor employment status of workers especially in private sector to eliminate casualisation and contract appointments in Nigeria to reduce modern day enslavement by multinational companies.