NBS set to Release Unemployment Data in May

The National Bureau of Statistics says it will publish the new unemployment and employment figures for the country before the end of May 2023.

The bureau said this in its “Nigeria Labour Force Framework Re-design 2023 report released on its website.

The NBS said it has significantly enhanced the methodology it uses to collect labour market data through the Nigeria labour force survey (NLFS).

The statistics office added that it collaborated with the World Bank to bring the NLFS methodology in line with best international practices.

This, it said, includes the adoption of the 19th ICLS “Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization”.

It seems to also “Provide measures of labour underutilization, beyond unemployment and recognize and provide a framework for the measurement of all work, paid and unpaid.”

The report noted that the status of the NLFS data collection for 2022/2023 is ongoing beginning from last year October.

“Q4 report will cover data collected between 19th October 2022 and 22nd January 2023. The report for the reference quarter is almost concluded and will be published before the end of May 2023,” the NBS said.

According to the NBS, working with the World Bank has significantly improved the methodology and design for the conduct of the NLFS in Nigeria.

“The new methodology would tell an unbiased story of the Nigerian Labour Market Statistics as it should be told.

“The use of 1-hour criterion for employment would ensure unemployment is regarded as total lack of employment and more attention towards assessment of the quality of employment,” it said.

The NBS had in March 2021 reported that Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 33.3 per cent, translating to some 23.2 million people, the highest in at least 13 years and the secondhighest rate in the world.

The figure jumped from 27.1 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2020 amidst Nigeria’s lingering economic crisis made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. The unemployment rate in the country has more than quadrupled since 2016 when the economy slipped into a recession.