Environmental Health Graduates in a peaceful protest over unemployment on October 16, 2017.
Photo Credit: National Daily Newspaper
Nigeria’s unemployment rate jumps to 33.5%
Nigeria’s unemployment rate has jumped from 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 to 33.5 per cent in fourth quarter of the same year, Nigeria Bureau of Statics (NBS) has revealed.
The NBS, in the report published on its website on Monday, put the underemployment rate at 22.8 per cent in Q4 2020 (28.6 per cent in Q2 2020) while the total of unemployment and underemployment was put at 40 per cent in Q4 2020 (35.2 per cent in Q2 2020)
“The number of persons in the economically active or working age population (15 – 64 years of age) during the reference period of the survey, Q4, 2020 was 122,049,400,” NBS said.
“This is 4.3 per cent higher than the figure recorded In Q2, 2020, which was 116.871,186.”
NBS put the number of persons in the labour force, that is people within ages 15 -64, who are able and willing to work at 69.675,468.
“This was 13.22 per cent less than the number of persons in Q2, 2020. This number, those within the age bracket of 25-34 were highest with 20,091,695 representing 28.8 per cent of the labour force,” NBS said.
“The total number of people in employment (people with jobs during the reference period was 46.488.079. Of this number. 30,572,440 were full-time employed (i.e. worked 404 hours per week), while 15,915,639 were under-employed (i.e., working between 20-29 hours per week) this figure is 20.6 per cent less than the people in employment in Q2.2020.”
The unemployment rate among rural dwellers was 343 per cent, up from 28.2 per cent in Q2, 2020, while urban dwellers reported a rate of 31.3 per cent up from 26.4 per cent.
In the case of underemployment among rural dwellers, it declined to 26.9 per cent from 313 per cent, while the rate among urban dwellers decreased to 16.2 per cent from 23.2 per cent ing2,2020.
“The unemployment rate among people aged 15- 34years was 42.5 per cent up from 34.9 per cent, while the rate of underemployment for the same age group declined to 21.0 per cent from 28.2 per cent in Q2, 2020. These rates were the highest when compared to other age groupings.”
