KASBIT Business Journal, 6:14-28(2013) http://ideas.repec.org/s/ksb/journl.html An Exploratory Evaluation of the Employment… 14 C. Asenime and A. Hamed An Exploratory Evaluation of the Employment Role of Commercial Cart Pushing in Metropolitan Lagos Charles Asenime and Akinlabi Hamed ABSTRACT This paper is an evaluation of the employment role of Cart Pushing in Metropolitan Lagos and how it sustains the operators and by extension family members. Currently, Lagos accommodates 65% of industries in Nigeria, which account for the attraction of people from every part of Nigeria in search of jobs. The consequence could be daily observed in the ever growing number of unemployed people aimlessly roaming the streets of Lagos. The reality of not having a job by these migrants has stimulated so many innovations; one of such is the ever growing number of commercial cart pushers with various types and designs meant for different purposes. Data used for this paper was collected through the use of structured questionnaires administered on commercial cart pushers that operate within the Okokomaiko/Mile2 traffic corridor. The paper evaluated some of the factors that significantly influence the profit profile of operators through Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The paper has captured the various types of carts, their designs, volumes and the different wares they move and their modes of operations. The paper revealed the ethnic dimension of this business and observed that most of the operators are of northern extraction. The paper examined its contribution to the GDP of the state through payment of taxes and other levies. Finally the paper posits that improved management of this line of business could take the form of increased availability of carts through reinjection of profit into operations, improved finances through soft loans from the various micro finance banks. JEL. Classification: E24, J24, O15. Keywords: Cart, Attraction, Unemployed, Migrants, Sustainable, Profits, Generator, Reinjection. 1. INTRODUCTION Cart pushing is a form of informal employment which abounds all over the world. Informal employment is variously referred to jobs or activities in the production and commercialization of legal goods and services that are not registered or protected by the state. Categories of informal workers common in both developed and developing countries include casual workers in restaurants and hotels, sub-contracted janitors and security guards, casual or day labourers in construction and agriculture, piece-rate workers in sweatshops, temporary office helpers, and off-site data processors. Most workers in all of these categories of work are informally employed, without secure contracts, worker benefits or social protection (Chen 2003). Informal workers are excluded from social security benefits and the protection afforded by formal labor contracts (ILO and WTO 2009). Persistent informality can be found more in developing and emerging economies. The share of informal employment activities tend to increase during economic recession, since informal work can act as a buffer when people are laid off in the formal sector or cannot secure employment; yet it is not a substitute for gainful and secured employment in the current recession faced by many developing countries (Chen 2003; OECD 2004; Santana and Loomis 2003).