AN ANALYSIS OF HOUSEHOLDS’ SAVING BEHAVIOUR IN LAGOS STATE OF NIGERIA: THE POST RECESSION ERA

Abstract

Following the recession experienced in the Nigerian economy, there were negative significant transformations in the socioeconomic and political structures of the economy, as jobs were lost, underemployment and unemployment scale up, labour productivity declined, stagnated wages as well as sharp decline in micro and macro-levels savings. Based on the aforementioned, this study explores the subject matter of household savings among different category of people. By extension, it investigates the determinants of household savings in Lagos state, Nigeria. Purposive sampling is adopted to select ten Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the study area while information is obtained through a standardized questionnaire from 520 out of 800 household heads (representing 65% response rate). The data is analyzed using descriptive statistic, hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) and parameter estimates with robust standard errors (RSR). The result shows that (52.4%) of the total respondents are male and they have an average monthly income of $204.65 (N74697.95K) and savings of $27.75 (N10130.5K), however, their female counterparts have mean monthly income and savings of $101.50 (N37050.28K) and $11.86 (N4329.609K) respectively. Based on the findings, the study suggests that government and policy makers should improve household savings capacity by implementing policies that will improve productivity, generate employment opportunities and boost income of households.