Migration and Youth Unemployment in Nigeria: Reflections from an Empirical Study

This study examines the employment characteristics of youth migrants in Nigeria by analyzing the World Bank data on Migration and Remittances Household Surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa (2009). The methodology adopted included both bivariate and multivariate models of migration decision making of the Nigerian youth migrants. Our findings showed that there is a general improvement in the level of education of the migrant youths compared to their counterparts two decades ago or more in the past. With respect to the low level of social and economic development of the country, young people migrate to urban destinations where most employment opportunities can be found, those who are unable to get decent and rewarding jobs lapse into the “discouraged workers”. Also youth migrants with primary and secondary level of education are more represented in self-employment. These categories of youth migrants mostly engaged in vocational jobs, petty trade and any kind of job that requires low skill (informal sector) and are majorly from the south-East geo-political zone of the country. The policy implications of these findings are many. To mention a few, we need policies that will bridge the rural-urban socio-economic divide by improving the social, physical and economic infrastructures across the national landscape.