Nigeria’s unemployment rate rises 4% in 23 months, says NBS

WITH A TOTAL LABOUR FORCE OF OVER 80.3 million, Nigeria’s unemployment rate has been on the increase with over 21.8 million of this total being unemployed in Africa’s largest economy. Between the third quarter of 2018 and the second quartre of 2020, the country’s unemployment rate rose by four per cent from 23.1 per cent to 27.1 per cent, recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show.

A cursory examination of the data further revealed that as at the second quarter of 2020, the total working-age population stands at 112. 4 million Nigerians, a 2.7 per cent fall from the figure 115.5 million recorded during the third quarter of 2018. Also, during the reference period, the underemployment rate increased from 20.1 per cent to hit 28.6 per cent, as a combination of the unemployment and underemployment rate for the period under review rose to a figure of 55.7 per cent.

The above, according to the statistics bureau, signifies that 27.1 per cent of the labour force in Nigeria or 21.8 million persons, either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours per week, making them unemployed by the NBS definition in Nigeria. This is computed as 11.7 per cent, according to international definition, and an additional 836,969 persons from the number in that category in Q3 2018. Further analysis of the data: According to the report, under the age-groupings, the NBS highlights that the highest rate of unemployment was recorded among the 15-24-year age-group at 40.8 per cent, followed by those between 25-34 age brackets at 30.7 per cent. In order words, the total youth population recorded an underemployment rate of 35.4 per cent.

The report further revealed that the rate of underemployment by age-group has those between ages 55-64 recording an underemployment rate of 31.6 per cent, the highest amongst the age groups, and followed by those aged between 15-24 with 30.5 per cent, while those with the lowest underemployment rate were between 25-34 years of age with 26.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, with the seriously obvious challenge for the younger age-group in Nigeria to secure fulltime employment, a permutation of unemployment and underemployment rates show that those between the ages of 15-24 reported a combined rate of 71.3 per cent.

Further analyzing the data based on gender shows that female unemployment was highest among the genders with 31.6 per cent while the male counterpart was 22.9 per cent during the reference period. A similar case was recorded for underemployment, with 31 per cent reported for females, while males reported an underemployment rate of 22.6 per cent.

In a related development in the data, the unemployment rate among rural dwellers stood at 28 per cent, while urban dwellers reported a rate of 25.4 per cent. While in the case of underemployment, rural dwellers reported a rate of 31.5 per cent, while the rate among urban dwellers was 23.2 per cent.

When considered by educational status, those whose status is below the primary school level reported the highest rate of unemployment with 46.2 per cent, trailed by those with first degree/ HND certificates at 40.9 per cent. Those with Vocational/Commercial qualifications reported the lowest rate of unemployment, 17.9 per cent during the second quarter of 2020.