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Does the wage curve exist in Nigeria? Evidence from a disaggregated labour market

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  • Taiwo Aderemi

Abstract

This paper tests the wage curve, a negative relationship between local unemployment rates and real wages in Nigeria, in 2004 using a household survey data. Both the cell-mean and micro-data regressions estimates refute the wage curve hypothesis in Nigeria. Instead, the findings show a positive relationship between real wages and unemployment in Nigeria in the period observed. An intuition from this is that wages in the country are downward rigid to distortions in the labour market. The positive relationship between real wages and jobless rates could partly explain the rising income inequality pattern in the country. Copyright Institute for Social and Economic Change 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Taiwo Aderemi, 2015. "Does the wage curve exist in Nigeria? Evidence from a disaggregated labour market," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 17(2), pages 184-199, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jsecdv:v:17:y:2015:i:2:p:184-199
    DOI: 10.1007/s40847-015-0007-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Ikechukwu Darlington Nwaka & Fatma Guven-Lisaniler & Gulcay Tuna, 2016. "Gender wage differences in Nigerian self and paid employment: Do marriage and children matter?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(4), pages 490-510, December.
    2. Daudu Abdulrazaq K. & Kareem Oyedola W. & Olatinwo Latifat K. & Shuaib Suleiman B. & Abdulrahman Abdulganiyu I., 2023. "Does Gender Wage Gap Exist among Farm Workers in Nigeria? Evidence from Decomposition-Matching Analysis," Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 115-137, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Formal; Informal; Wage; Unemployment; Nigeria; J3; J31; J46;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market

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