Workers’ levels of education and private returns to investment in education in Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated private returns to investment in education by workers’ level of education in Nigeria, using the descriptive survey research design. Data were collected using the 2005 Labour Market Survey of the National Manpower Board covering 18,793 Nigerian workers: 5,937 with no formal education; 4,910 with primary school certificate; 4,873 with secondary school certificate; and 3,073 with first degree. Level of education was grouped into three levels of education which are primary school, secondary school, and university. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), using the 0.05 level of significance for decision making. Scheffe Post hoc analysis was used to test for differences among the levels of education. Earning equations explained 82.9% of the variations in log earnings for all workers, implying that the higher the level of education of workers within the same sector, the higher the earnings. The differences between level of education account for 3.4% of the variation in private returns. On the basis of findings of this study, it is recommended that earnings of workers in Nigeria should be increased in order to make investment in education an attractive option. Also, policy makers should also formulate policies and craft incentives that will promote investment in education.