Abstract:
The subject of this study is the impact of technical change on the productivity of the manufacturing industry in Imo State of Nigeria.The manufacturing industry is the leading sector in the industrialized countries. It is expected to stimulate and sustain the growth of the Nigeria economy.The Nigeria economy is in dire need of development but the sectors that should produce this effect, particularly the manufacturing industry, has exhibited disappointing performance. The Nigeria economy has experienced stunt growth since independence in 1960, such that even during the "oil boom' era, the country did not experience a positive growth rate consistently for an average of six years.The objective of this study, therefore is, to investigate the impact of technological progress(Hick's neutral disembodied change) on the productivity of selected manufacturing firm in Imo State of Nigeria in 2005. With this result, a prediction of the effect on manufacturing industry in Nigeria will be made. To achieve the set objective, we made a case study of the manufacturing industry in Imo State of Nigeria. Of the 104 firms that we gave questionnaires only 21 of then responded, even within the elongated period of four months of consistent visit and appeal. Some of the firms on the record had closed down due to shortage of raw materials and spare parts. Also none of the multinational corporations returned our questionnaires. The data set collected from these 21 firms were 60 and we used the constant elasticity of substitution production function was used and State econometric package also was used to carry out the analysis. The model focused on Hick's disembodied neutral technical change, which emphasized continuous improvement on existing capital assets. The findings show that technical change did not make significant contribution to the productivity of the manufacturing industry in Nigeria within 2005 in which the cross-section study was based. It is recommended that technology policy should be separated from policies on science and technology and education and training. This policy should be bases in the firms. It is also recommended that the capital goods industry should fortified and that Nigerians working abroad and who have acquired skills in technology should be attracted home by the government and the manufacturing firms. Furthermore, goods manufactured by these efficient firms that use improved technology should be exported. The export of manufactured goods, will in turn, yield technical change.
