Service-Sector led structural change and the Nigerian economy -

The movement of labour from low-productivity to high productivity sectors has been referred to as structural transformation and consistent with the growth trajectories of countries such as Netherlands to the United Kingdom, United States, Japan, South Korea etc.

Economic development patterns in these countries showcase the transfer of productive resources from agriculture – through manufacturing – to business services. Share of employment in agriculture declines following productivity enhancements in the sector. Displaced labour finds employment in the manufacturing sector.

The reason is that as incomes rise, demand patterns shift towards manufactured goods, stimulating manufacturing production. Fast productivity growth in the manufacturing sector further displaces workers who then find employment in business services as demand patterns also shift towards services as incomes rise.

This structural shift has been referred to as positive industrialization, which occurs in developed economies as a result of sustained economic growth. In the instances of productivity enhancements in both agricultural and manufacturing sectors, output rises and demand is met with fewer labour resulting in increases in overall productivity and incomes.

Recent data shows that many developing economies are undergoing structural change, albeit in a unique and heretical fashion, divergent from the experience of previous industrializers.

Take the Nigerian economy for instance, the contribution of industry to GDP declined between 1970 and 2020 from 33.7 to 28%. On the other hand, agricultural sector contribution fell from 49.5 to 24%, while services increased from 16.9 to 46%.

In the same vein, as of 2020, the shares of employment in industry, agriculture and services were 12.24%, 34.66% and 53.1%. As of 1970, these shares were 13%, 68% and 18% across the industrial, agricultural and service sectors.

These figures suggest that the percentage of those employed in the agricultural sector has reduced significantly, while the service-sector has been employing more people within the 5 decades.

However, the share of employment in industry reduced (although by a tiny fraction), and never grew even for once in these years. From this, it could be observed that Nigeria’s structural change is service-sector led, which cannot deliver the needed growth, prosperity and quality employment, like how manufacturing led transformation delivered growth in most developed economies. This is unpacked below.

First, the poor industrial performance from 1970 to 2020 while employment shifted from agriculture directly to services in those same years is synonymous with premature deindustrialization which occurs in low- and middle-income countries as a result of economic failure.

The deindustrialization is a denouement of economic failure in this case because the services sub-sector employing more people is the low-productivity, non-business services which include petty trade, hotels and restaurants, and other community, social and personal services often rendered by artisans.

To instantiate this, in May 2021, World Bank reported that 80.4% of Nigerian employment is in the informal sector where the majority work in non-business services. Non-business services, although good at absorbing labour, are of low labour productivity reflective in low wages and limited opportunities for skills’ accumulation and learning.

Furthermore, they are characterized by high job vulnerability and informality rates and are naturally constrained by the size of the domestic market.

Second, business services on the flip side, such as banking and finance, insurance, information technology, haulage, communications, branding, advertising, marketing etc., are not constrained by the size of the domestic market.