Impact of Digital Economy on Youth Unemployment in Nigeria
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are widely perceived as major tools for kick-starting ailing economies and consequently assist developing societies `catch up' with the developed world, including those groups that have lost out of the mainstream of development. This study examined the impact of the digital economy on youth unemployment in Nigeria. The study adopts an ex post facto research design, utilizing pre-existing time series data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the years 2000 to 2023. Data analysis techniques such as descriptive statistics and regression analysis are employed to explore the relationship between variables. The findings indicate that the digital economy has a significant impact on youth unemployment in Nigeria, with approximately 67.3% of the variation in youth unemployment being explained by the digital economy variable. The inclusion of the digital economy variable improves the model's performance, as evidenced by higher coefficient of determination (R²) and lower Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The study also reveals a positive relationship between the rate of youth unemployment and youth unemployment itself. While ICT usage does not show a statistically significant relationship, the percentage change in GDP is found to be significant. Recommendations include enhancing digital skills development, fostering entrepreneurship and start-up support, improving internet access and infrastructure, promoting digital financial inclusion, collaborating with the private sector and encourage collaboration between educational institutions and industries.
Authors: Idris, Miftahu, Maikomo, John Moses
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7220122782