LABOUR

A. Labor

In 2003 the labor force totaled 54.5 million, up from 30 million in
1980. Women made up 36 percent of the force, men 64 percent. An estimated
3 percent of all workers worked in agriculture, down from 54 percent in
1980; 75 percent worked in the service sector; and 22 percent worked
in industry, including mining, manufacturing, and construction. Data on
Nigeria’s labor force, however, have limited value because most
Nigerians earn their living in more than one field. Urban workers “moonlight”
to make ends meet and rural dwellers have second jobs to supplement
farming. Accurate unemployment rates are difficult to obtain and generally
mean little in a society where many who work are marginally employed
and where begging is a socially accepted occupation.

Nigeria’s central labor union is the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC),
which comprises numerous specialized industrial and professional unions.
Union activities have increased with the economic downturn of the 1980s
and 1990s and the government’s efforts to strictly limit wage
increases. Among the most active unions are those representing petroleum workers
and university teachers, which have challenged the government not just
on salary and economic issues but also on abuses of human rights and
autocratic rule. Strikes called for by the NLC have periodically
disrupted the Nigerian economy since the early 1990s.