THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYMENT ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION OF NON-AGRICULTURAL HOUSEHOLD ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA

Purpose: The study examines impact of employment on access to credit by non-agricultural household enterprises in Nigeria using binary logistic regression approach. Design/Methodology/Approach: The data for the study was drawn from General Household Survey (Wave 4) published by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2019. Apart from the core variables studied, other variables considered in the study include: spending on other business costs, spending on rent, spending on transport, spending on salaries, and location of the enterprise. Findings: The findings indicate that employment is positive and significantly influence access to credit by non-agricultural enterprises in Nigeria. Interestingly, the influence of employment on access to credit by household non-agricultural enterprises is consistent even when the estimation is disaggregated into rural and urban enterprises. When disaggregated into rural and urban enterprises also revealed that spending on other business is negative and significantly influence access to credit by urban non-agricultural household enterprises while spending on transport is positive and significantly influence access to credit by rural non-agricultural household enterprises. Other factors like location, spending on rent, and salaries exert insignificant for access to credit. The study concludes that there is need for adequate policies that will promote employment through job creation.