Survey reveals 50% of salary offers in Nigeria falls below N125,000 monthly

In a survey of 4,410 public salary offers in online job postings in Nigeria, it was discovered that 50 percent pay less than N125,000 monthly, and not all have good salary conditions.

This study was derived from data compiled by the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund’s (LSETF) labour market information system, which examined 22,692 online job vacancies in Lagos between January 2023 and May 2024.

The survey shows that Lagos state demonstrates a high frequency of job postings across various sectors, with professional jobs being the major group in a sample of online postings. Professionals are composed of occupations usually requiring specialised and advanced skills and degrees, for example: engineers, healthcare professionals, lawyers, etc.

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Key findings on wage trends

The report reveals notable disparities in salaries based on occupation and skill level:

Specialised roles tend to offer higher pay, with managerial and professional positions earning approximately 50 percent more than other roles.

Significant pay variations exist within the same occupation. For example, accountants’ monthly salaries range from N50,000 for interns to as high as N875,000 for Chief Financial Officers (CFOs).

Salary trends by occupation group

The study highlights generally modest salaries across occupation groups, with a slight upward trend observed in 2024.

Among occupation groups:

Services and sales roles, including retail, clerical, administrative, and educational jobs, recorded the lowest median salaries.

Operators, comprising technicians, industrial workers, and vehicle operators, ranked slightly higher.

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Professionals reported better pay overall, while Managers emerged as the highest earners, albeit with greater salary fluctuations throughout the review period.

These findings underline the wage disparities in Lagos and the challenges faced by workers in accessing well-paying roles within various industries.

However, the International Labour Organization (ILO) in examining wage disparity, found out that significant wage gaps persist, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, but wage inequality decreased in two-thirds of countries since 2000.

The ILO highlights the disparity in income distribution, with the lowest-paid 10 percent earning just 0.5 percent of the global wage bill, while the highest-paid 10 percent earn nearly 38 percent, according to a Global Wage Report.