Emerging Global Political Economy and Implications for the Nigerian Labour Market

Abstract

The world has been transformed into a global political economy as a result of the unprecedented level of interconnectedness of political, economic, social and technological forces that permeate the contemporary global system. This paper identifies trade regulations, technology and capitalism as core factors responsible for the emerging political order and goes further to argue that developing nations in particular, are constrained to be incorporated into the global economy, a consequence of which is the requirement for them to open their borders for external economic influences. For Nigeria, the developmental challenges arising from this new order have implications for every sector of her economy. Focusing on the labour market, the paper argues that the Nigerian labour market has been hit hard through the adoption of series of shock therapies allegedly designed to improve economic efficiency. Unfortunately, such therapies have generated pressures on organizations thereby forcing them to adopt survival strategies such as retrenchment, casualisation, outsourcing and these in turn have worsened the unemployment situation and labour standards; have promoted underemployment, cheap labour, disregard for trade unionism, and collective bargaining and promoted general job insecurity. The paper concludes that there is need to protect the Nigerian labour market and this would require a re-orientation towards the adoption of an ideology of social partnership and manifest readiness by the government to share its authority and responsibility for the management of the economy, in which case workers and their representatives must be well protected from external influences and domineering employers.

Key Words: Political Economy, Labour Market, Employment, Labour standards, Globalization.