International Migrant Remittances and Labour Supply in Nigeria
| Author | Emmanuel O. Nwosu,Stephen E. Aguegboh,Nathaniel E. Urama,Denis N. Yuni |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12289 |
| Published date | 01 February 2017 |
| Date | 01 February 2017 |
International Migrant Remittances and Labour
Supply in Nigeria
Nathaniel E. Urama*, Emmanuel O. Nwosu*, Denis N. Yuni** and
Stephen E. Aguegboh*
ABSTRACT
The study analyses how remittances to Nigeria affect the labour supply of recipients using
Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and a Log-Linear regression model, with data from the
2013 Nigerian General Household Survey. The PSM results show that for the entire sample,
the difference between the average amount of labour supplied per week by those that receive
remittances and the amount they would have supplied without remittances is insignificant. The
marginal impact analysis also shows that, ceteris paribus, the average labour supply for all
recipients is inelastic to remittances. The results from the sub-group analysis, however, show
that receiving remittances negatively affects the labour supply of the self-employed in agricul-
ture, teenagers and the elderly. These results led us to the recommendation that policies to
increase the inflow of remittances should be encouraged but in tandem with programmes to
educate farmers on the benefit of investing remittances received in their farming business.
INTRODUCTION
Study background
Recently, the volume and direction of migrants’remittances have been growing rapidly and accord-
ing to Chami, Barajas, Cosimano, Fullenkamp, Gapen and Montiel (2008), remittances are expected
to affect the recipient economies. This has attracted the attention of researchers and policymakers,
who consider remittances to be of high policy interest (Lueth and Ruiz-Arraz, 2007) and wish to
analyse their economic impact.
In Nigeria, there have been many studies and publications on remittances, ranging from their
effect on economic growth (Agu, 2009; Oduh and Urama, 2012; Iheke, 2012; Ojapinwa, 2012;
Ojapinwa and Odekunle, 2013; Odionye and Emerole, 2015); their impact on poverty (Chukwuone,
Okpukpara, Amaechina, Enebeli -Uzor and Ivoko, 2007; Ajayi, Ijaiya, Ijaiya, Bello, Ijaiya, and
Adeyemi (2009); Odozia, Awoyemi and Omonona, 2010; Babatunde and Martinetti, 2011; Olowa
and Shittu, 2012); their effect on inequality across rural and urban areas (Fonta, Onyukwu and
Nwosu, 2011); their effect on Investment (Ojapinwa and Odekunle, 2013); and their effect on the
labour supply (Posso, 2012), amongst others.
A key factor in the interest in the issue of remittances in Nigeria is the relatively recent rise in
volume. To this end, data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) show that by 2014,
remittances had outpaced Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance
* University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
** University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Nigeria.
doi: 10.1111/imig.12289
©2016 The Authors
International Migration ©2016 IOM
International Migration Vol. 55 (1) 2017
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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