Empirical Analysis of the Structural Determinants of Gender Inequality in Nigerian Labour Markets

Gender inequality in Nigeria's labour markets persists across occupation, earnings, and employment type, shaped by an interacting set of structural factors that individual-level explanations cannot adequately account for. This study presents an empirical analysis of the structural determinants of gender labour market inequality in Nigeria, drawing on household survey data from the National Bureau of Statistics and primary survey data from 280 workers across Lagos, Kano, Enugu, and Port Harcourt. Structural equation modelling and decomposition analysis were applied to disentangle the contributions of human capital differences, occupational segregation, institutional discrimination, and care economy constraints to the observed gender earnings gap. Findings demonstrate that occupational segregation accounts for 38% of the earnings gap, human capital differences for 21%, and unexplained discrimination for 31%, with care economy constraints accounting for the remainder. The study reveals that gender earnings gaps are most severe in the private formal sector, particularly in financial services and information technology, despite these sectors employing relatively more educated women. Unlike descriptive studies common in Nigerian literature, this research employs structural modelling to identify the independent contribution of each determinant. Policy implications target occupational desegregation through education, pay transparency regulations, and care infrastructure investment. Keywords: gender inequality, labour market, structural determinants, earnings gap, Nigeria