Aggregate Earnings and (Un)employment Rate: Evidence from Nigeria

The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between aggregate accounting earnings of quoted Nigerian firms and (un)employment changes. This study examined the influence of selected macroeconomic variables on the relationship between aggregate earnings and (un)employment change. This study analyzes aggregated earnings of 101 quoted firms and (un)employment rate data from the year 2006 to 2017. Aggregated earnings yearly observations were used in this study, with each yearly observation equal to the cross-sectional sum of sample firms’ yearly earnings. Results show that corporate aggregate earnings growth is (negatively) positively and significantly associate with (un)employment changes. Selected macroeconomic indicators statistically and significantly influence the aggregate earnings growth association with (un)employment changes. Robustness of our analysis in this study allowed us to document in strong terms that in an emerging economy, corporate aggregate earnings significantly associated with (un)employment (i.e., as corporate earnings increases, more investment will be made, and job seekers will be employed thereby reducing the unemployment rate). One implication of our results is that aggregate accounting earnings contain information about (un)employment changes in Nigeria. Our results suggest that effective monetary policies aimed at reducing inflation and interest rate as well as enabling economic policies encouraging and efficient mobilizing of fund from surplus side to deficit side of the economy will reduce unemployment and lead to employment.