4. Industrial Cluster Impact on Employment and Poverty: Analysis of Living Standards

This chapter considers the relationship between work and standard of living. First, it pays close attention to the nature and quality of employment, drawing attention to the discourse on informal versus formal employment, given that the Otigba cluster sits on an informal to formal continuum. Second, drawing on secondary literature, and analysis from surveys and interviews, it highlights the living standards of employees within the cluster, using both self-reported (subjective) and objective measurements, the latter being reflective of multidimensional poverty and slum household indicators. Findings showed that Otigba employees fare comparatively better than national urban averages on sanitation, drinking water, and assets but tend to live in more crowded rooms and use less electricity for cooking and energy sources. On most indicators—cooking fuel, drinking water, sanitation, and assets (except cars), a larger percentage of employees are using/have access to the more improved sources. Finally, the chapter showed that the subjective and objective measurements corroborated each other.