National manpower stock and employment generation survey : household and micro enterprise (informal sector) : first draft executive summary

Education has traditionally been administered via physical interactions between teachers and students in classrooms. Through technological advancement in communications and digital devices, online education has been developed with the potential to scale education, making it affordable and accessible. With an internet connection and a laptop or mobile phone, learners can access massive open online courses (MOOCs) for free. Nonetheless, the opportunity to scale education and the advantages of online learning are not always fulfilled due to certain challenges. In this work, Socioeconomic, Sociocultural, and IT infrastructural factors are categorized as challenges hindering the adoption of online learning in Nigeria. Although some factors mitigating online learning have been identified in the past, there is relatively little empirical evidence indicating the reality and severity of these challenges. Since scaling education involves worldwide reach, local contexts such as found in Nigeria and other developing countries become critical. The objective of this work, therefore, is to understand these challenges, present empirical evidence through a questionnaire survey, rank these challenges in order of severity, and propose solutions.

Challenges of Online Learning in Nigeria

In the last two decades, the effectiveness of the minimum wage as a poverty-reducing tool has come under criticism. It has been observed that a weak link exists between poor workers and minimum wage. Similarly, in countries such as Nigeria, minimum wage determination is not indexed to price movements, thus nominal wage changes do not adjust for price changes. The consequence of this is that, the worth of minimum wage is rapidly eroded. Few studies exist on this topic in Nigeria, despite its relevance for policy guidance. This study therefore adds to the literature by examining the link between minimum wage and poverty status of its intended beneficiaries in Nigeria, using 2004 and 2009 household survey data. Findings show that, although the minimum wage is targeted at the poor-working group, the link is not strong. More importantly, the minimum wage policy in Nigeria has a marginal poverty-reducing effect. Plausible explanations for the marginal effect are the poor targeting of minimum wage workers and the rapidly declining value of nominal minimum wages overtime. Gradual and regular adjustments of the minimum wage to the consumer price index are recommended, as it will help preserve the worth of the wages.

Minimum Wage and the Working Poor in Nigeria: Is there a Link?

Purpose of Study: Based on the Syari'ah of Islam, prosperity should equalize material and spiritual aspects. It aims to create benefits for people in their life and hereafter. Prosperity is attained when people meet the purpose of syari’ah (i.e., maqashid Syariah). Maqashid Syariah involves the maintenance of religion, soul, mind, posterity, and wealth. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influence of Islamic religiosity on income and prosperity.
Methodology: The explanatory method was employed to know the effect among variables. Islamic prosperity was classified into an endogenous variable, while religiosity, income, and social factor were classified into the exogenous variable. The primary data analysis was collected through the interview by delivering a questionnaire to the respondents. The respondents of this study were the 85 lecturers and academic relatives of Universitas Negeri Surabaya that selected by the Structured Equation Model (SEM) sample selection method while PLS employs the analysis of data in SEM.
Main Findings: The result found that Islamic religiosity brought impacts on Islamic income and prosperity. Islamic religiosity also brought direct impacts on Islamic prosperity. Nevertheless, Islamic income was not a mediating variable between religiosity and Islamic prosperity.
Applications of this study: The finding of the study might assist financial planners and government/policymakers in identifying the drivers of people’s prosperity and how to create the product, service of the platform that meets the Muslim needs as the majority of the population in Indonesia.
Novelty/originality: While other studies focused on the impact of Islamic religiosity on the specific financial asset, such as Islamic bank accounts or insurance, the present study explores the impact of Islamic religiosity dimension on the increase in income and prosperity in a broader perspective.

https://giapjournals.com/hssr/article/download/hssr.2020.8225/2844

The influence of religiosity on income and prosperity: the indonesian context

Purpose




The primary motive of a minimum wage policy is to provide a wage floor for poorly paid workers and improve their welfare. In Nigeria, real minimum wage declined by 60 per cent between 1974 and 2011, thus reducing the welfare of workers. The wage gap between low skilled and high skilled workers have also widened over the years in favour of the latter. There are concerns that the series of minimum wage increase in Nigeria may not be welfare-enhancing. The paper aims to discuss these issues.




Design/methodology/approach




This study examined the welfare effects of minimum wage increase in Nigeria using a computable general equilibrium model. The model was calibrated using a 2006 Social Accounting Matrix and four sets of scenarios (20, 35, 50 and 140 per cent wage increases), were simulated.




Findings




The findings show that employers substituted other labour categories for minimum wage workers. This increases the wage rates of other labour. The consumer price index also increased as firms partly pass-on increased labour cost to consumers. Generally, the simulations show that minimum wage policies worsen the welfare of its intended beneficiaries, due to negative impact on prices and employment.




Originality/value




This study deviates from existing studies on minimum wage in Nigeria, by providing a proper disaggregation of the labour market that represents the Nigerian economy. In this regard, the informal sector was accommodated and the potential impact of the minimum wage on this sector determined. It also adopted the equivalent variation welfare measure which incorporates price and consumption effects in measuring welfare.

Fidelis O. Ogwumike

Papers

Welfare implications of minimum wage increase in Nigeria

Miniumum Wage and Welfare Implications in Nigeria