Determinants of Unemployment Duration in Nigeria: A Study of the Senatorial Districts in Anambra State.

Abstract

Rising and longer-term unemployment has remained a major source of concern in Nigeria for over two decades. Although a lot of research efforts have focused on understanding the drivers of unemployment rate, there is little or no research effort at understanding the determinants of unemployment duration in Nigeria. Given the huge macroeconomic and welfare effect of longer-term unemployment, this study focuses on ascertaining the drivers of unemployment duration in Anambra state of Nigeria. The study adopts a survey research design and quantitative research method, using a stratified multistage sampling technique for selecting local councils and random sampling procedure for selecting respondents, about 760 valid respondents were utilized for the study. The results obtained from logistic regression framework indicate that gender, education, spousal income and age are critical drivers of unemployment duration in Nigeria. Consequently, the study recommends that the state focuses on boosting economic growth, initiating gender-based workplace policies and engaging in workforce development program for the unemployed.