Ibadan Journal of the Social Sciences
Volume 13, No. 2, 2015
DOI: 10.36108/ijss/5102.31.0250
Workers Health Status and Economic Productivity
Samuel Orekoya
Department of Economics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Abstract
This study analyzes the economic impact of Nigerian labour force health status, proxy by malaria prevalence and HIV/AIDS, on economic productivity. It adopts the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression method on data from 1988 to 2012to explain the relationship between economic productivity of labour and their health status. HIV/AIDS was found to have a negative and significant relationship with economic productivity implying that the more people suffer from this disease, the less their economic productivity and this will impact the economic growth of the nation. Malaria prevalence as a measure of morbidity was discovered to be positively related to economic productivity. This may not be unconnected with the fact that Nigerians are becoming increasingly aware of the role mosquitoes play in the transmission of the disease and have therefore devised various ways of preventing the scourge. We recommend from these that more attention be paid to the health of the population especially the labour force since they are the economically active population that could contribute to economic growth.