Domestic Versus International Remittances and Job Creation in Family Firms in Nigeria and Uganda

John Herbert Ainembabazi and Francis Hypolite Kemeze

Review of Development Economics, 2026, vol. 30, issue 2, 1265-1277

Abstract: Research investigating the role of remittances in job creation for both members of recipient and nonrecipient households remains limited. We use a correlated random effects (CRE) estimator to analyze panel household data from Nigeria and Uganda. We find that the source of remittances—domestic or international remittances—does not matter, but their volumes matter in determining the direction of their effects on job creation. Instead, the findings indicate that the effects of remittances on job creation vary by country. In Nigeria, when domestic remittances are a major source of household income, family members are less likely to work in family‐owned firms (FOF) but more likely to hire nonfamily workers. Whereas in Uganda, when either domestic or international remittance income contributes a minority share to the household income, family members are less likely to work in FOF but more likely to do so when remittance income contributes a majority share to the household income. Consequently, a majority share of remittances in household income helps to preserve the employment of nonfamily workers in FOF in Nigeria, while it is the family workers who benefit from employment preservation when remittances dominate household income in Uganda. Policies promoting remittance transfers have the potential to induce job creation in migrants' communities.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.70054

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:30:y:2026:i:2:p:1265-1277

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=1363-6669

Access Statistics for this article

Review of Development Economics is currently edited by E. Kwan Choi

More articles in Review of Development Economics from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().