Lesson 7.Employment Trend

Lesson 7: Employment TrendItalic text

EMPLOYMENT TREND INTRODUCTION

In this unit, we are going to study the need for Human resource planner, to understand the trend of employment and unemployment in the economy in which they operate. Analysis of employment trend and distribution which are determined by age, urban migration, education factors is necessary for proper human resource forecasting. Other factors that affect the level employment have to do with the trend of economic development in some sectors of the society like the Manufacturing, Agricultural, Distributive Sector, etc. A proper study of the developments in this sector will enable Human Resource Planner to strategically forecast human resources requirement at a particular period

Discussion

The total distribution of total gainful employment in industries indicated by Ojo (1998 p 62-65) shows that in Nigeria for the period of 19601994, 1960, about 72 percent of the total force was engage in Agriculture. Since then accordingly the proportion of the work force in gainful occupation in the agricultural sector has decline gradually, reaching about 60 percent in 1996. The relative neglect of the agricultural sector since the oil boom of the 1970s partly explains the drop in the relative contribution of the sector to total gainful employment

Reflection

The manufacturing and processing sector was regarded as second in employment generation. It was manufacturing sector that gained most in the provision of employment during 1970s and before the introduction of SAP in 1970. The manufacturing sector between 1970s and early 1980s, the proportion of people engaged in the sector increased gradually. The trend is traceable to the policy of industrialization vigorously pursued in the country and highly enhanced by the oil boom. Ojo however pointed that manufacturing sector employment has suffered a severe decline since the inception of SAP. The distributive sector according to Folayan experienced a considerable fairly growth in its contribution to total gainful employment during the review period, having risen from only 2.9 percent in 1960 to 163 percent in 1996. It was followed in this trend by the service sector. Inspite of the dominant role of the oil sector in the Nigerian economy. According to Ojo it has never accounted for more than 0.5 percent of aggregate gainful employment. This underscores the highly capital intensive nature of activities. The agricultural sector consists of informal sector of rural activities. Agricultural continues to provide employment to over 60% percent of the population. Most of these farmers are generally on small landholdings and subsistence farming. According to Fayana (2006) between 1984 and 1988, an average of about 62:18 percent of the labor force was engaged in agricultural activities. Food and raw materials are provided for industries and the sector makes substantial contribution to foreign exchange earnings as well as the gross domestic product. Secondly, the building and construction industry has experienced severe loss, in relative terms, as regards modern sector employment. This is due primarily to the considerable scaling down of capital projects in both the public and private sectors. Thirdly, the mining and quarrying sector which is virtually dominated by the oil industry. Consisting largely of modern sector activities, had share of modern sector employment reduced considerable between 1985 and 1996 Ojo (1998)? He also pointed that many of the multinational companies which dominate the oil industry have slowed down their exploratory operations and have diverted part of their interests due to the national political crisis brought about by annulment of the 1993 Presidential election; he concluded that such companies have consequently downsized their activities and labor force