LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS USING MULTI-VARIABLE LINEAR REGRESSION TECHNIQUE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Labour represents human effort towards production (Bhatia, 1978). Adam Smith in his time recognized the indispensable nature of labour towards production. For him labour was the first price, the original purchase- money that was paid for all things. In his opinion, it was not by gold or silver, but by labour that all wealth of the world was originally purchased. The views such as the one by Adam Smith have propelled the overwhelming interests witnessed in the issues concerning labour management.

Today, disciplines in social and management sciences, particularly Human Resources Management (HRM) have concentrated on studies to accelerating the efficiency of labour towards production. Labour efficiency is the ratio between the actual output produced and the standard output. It has to do with the measurement of how good a body shop is keeping its technicians busy on productive tasks. Labour efficiency relates to labour productivity in that the efficiency of labour determines its productive ability. Labour productivity itself measures the rate of output per worker in relation to the set standard or expected output. The increase in interests in the efficiency of labour is motivated by the need to bring down the unit costs of products of firms (Fallahi, Sojoodi and Salannia, 2011). With increasing globalization and expansion of competition in industrial products, labour productivity more than before has become determining factor in the competitiveness of industries in domestic and foreign markets (Fellahi, Sojoodi and Salannia, 2011). They expressed the fact that high labour productivity means lower per unit cost and, therefore, ability of the firm to match prices on the global markets. It is because of the fact that prices of products depend largely on cost of production and labour cost is an important component of production costs, labour efficiency which encompasses labour productivity has become a focal point for the millennium managers.

The question of what enhances the efficiency of labour must be answered by the 21^st century managers who must thrive in the world’s stiff competition resulting from the world becoming a global village. Beginning with wages as the reward for labour, other factors; such as research and development (R&D), level of information technology (IT), export intensity of the firm, the size of the firm, training and education of workforce have been considered determining factors of labour productivity (Fellahi, Sojoodi and Salannia, 2011). The effect of new technology is also put into consideration but this is the result of the availability of research and development department (R&D). The precision with which these factors are determined goes a long way to say how successful a firm will be. It is for this reason that these factors are often weighed in relations to Profit before tax (PBT) and in some cases it is evaluated in relation to return on equity.

1.2     The Problem

It is a known fact that products of Nigerian origin seldom find its feet in the world market. This is the major reason for the shortage in foreign exchange. One and only foreign exchange earner for Nigeria remain crude oil which is not a match for the massive importation of general goods into Nigeria’s economy. The fact being that Nigeria’s home made goods are costly when compared with foreign products in both local and international market. Despite the abundant human and material resources, goods/services can still not be produced at lower costs to face the global competition. This weakness is as a result of poor efficiency of the Nigerian labour force. To re-direct the trend, the need to identify the factors that determine the efficiency of labour in Nigeria becomes of paramount importance. In addition, with the articulation of vision20: 2020 which targets to catapult Nigeria into the league of the first global 20 economies (Eneh, 2011) and the renewed agenda of the federal government of Nigeria to rehabilitate the ailing country’s economy through diversification, labour efficiency must be given special attention. This is because it would be difficult to make any improvements in any country’s well-being (talk more of joining first global 20 economies) without efficient labour force. Studies which tried to determine the efficiency of labour with particular reference to Nigeria’s manufacturing environment are substantially lacking in the present. It is this gap that this study attempted to fill.

Consequent upon the highlighted problem, the general objective of this study is to evaluate the determinants of the efficiency of labour in Nigeria. Specifically, the study identified factors, in order of relevance, that affect labour efficiency and made recommendations on the appropriate improvement needs of labour for profitable utilization of Nigeria’s labour force.

• Objectives of the Study

To examine the effect of Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

 

To examine the benefits of Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

 

To examine the challenges of Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

 

1.4  Research Questions

What is the effect of Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

 

What is the benefits of Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

 

What is the challenges of Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

 

1.5  Hypotheses

There is no significant effect of Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

 

There is no significant effect of benefits of Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

 

There is no significant of the challenges of Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

 

1.6 significance of the study

The findings of this study would be beneficial to the teachers, researchers, Ministry of works, policy makers.

This study would also be significant in the sense that its finding would serve as reference materials for future researchers to carry out further studies in the field of knowledge under study.

Finally, the outcomes of this research would to be of immense benefits to students of Faculty of engineering because its revealed information on labour productivity.

 

1.7  Scope of the Study

The scope of the Labour productivity analysis using multi-variable linear regression techniques

1.8  Limitation of the Study

In every research work, it is likely that the researcher may encounter some limitations. The researcher encountered some challenges during the period of carrying out this research. Some of these challenges include the dearth of materials for a proper and effective research work constituted a major limitation. Again, how to get the true and required information from the students through questionnaire also constituted a constraint in the study.

LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS USING MULTI-VARIABLE LINEAR REGRESSION TECHNIQUE