Ibadan Journal of the Social Sciences
Volume 8, No. 1, 2010
Pages 47-62
DOI: 10.36108/ijss/0102.80.0140
Sociological Investigation of the Use of Casual Workers in Selected Asian Firms in Lagos, Nigeria
Emeka E. Okafor
Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Abstract
The influx of Asian firms into Nigeria over the last one decade has exacerbated the use of casual workers in the production process. Little or no attempt has been made by scholars to understand the plights of this category of workers and to give them a voice. This study examined the working conditions of casual workers in three Asian firms in Lagos. The study utilized both neo-liberalism and Social Action Theory as theoretical framework. The sample was made up of 195 casual workers, selected through the triangulation of simple and purposive sampling techniques. Quantitative and qualitative data for the study were collected through the use of questionnaires and in-dept oral interviews. The result showed that most casuals described their working conditions as poor and their work as indecent. Also, most casuals rated their job satisfaction and work commitment as low, respectively. The paper argues that the prevalent use of casuals in Nigerian work organizations is predicated upon the general unemployment and poverty ions created by the weak economy. Under this precarious situation, workers no longer perceive work as a natural phenomenon to be enjoyed, but a compulsion needed to survive.
Keywords: Asian firms, casualization, job satisfaction, work commitment, decent work. Africa