Unemployment rate rises to 27%, total labour force drops by 10.21m - NBS

EHIME ALEX, Lagos

Nigeria unemployment rate has risen to 27.1 per cent in the 2nd quarter of 2020 from 23.1 per cent recorded in the 3rd quarter of 2018.

This is according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Labour Force Statistics report released recently for the first time since December 2018.

It shows that underemployment rate rose to 28.6 per cent in Q2 2020 from 20.1 per cent recorded in Q3 2018: 20, putting the country’s total labour force to had dropped to an estimated 80.29 million people in the period under review from 90.50 million people in Q3 2018.

The data reveals further that combined unemployment and underemployment rate as at Q2 2020 stood at 55.7 per cent relative to 43.2 per cent in Q3 2018.

Between Q3 2018 when the NBS last published the unemployment report and Q2 2020, the rate of unemployment has grown by 4ppts.

The number of economically active persons, aged 15-64 years stood at 116.87 million, 1.2 per cent higher than or 115.49 million in Q3 2018. However, the number of persons in the labour force, those within the ages of 15-64 who are able and willing to work declined to 80.29 million or -11.3 per cent.

Notably, the unemployment rate among young people, aged 15-34 years was put at 34.9 per cent in Q2 2020 from 29.7 per cent in Q3 2018, while the rate of underemployment for the same age group rose to 28.2 per cent from 25.7 per cent in Q3 2018. These rates were the highest when compared to other age groupings.

By age grouping, those aged between 55-64 years old recorded an underemployment rate of 31.6 per cent, the highest amongst the age groups.

This was followed by those aged between aged 15-24 year with 30.5 per cent, while those with the lowest underemployment rate were those aged between 25-34-year with 26.5 per cent.

In Q2 2020, the unemployment rate among rural dwellers was 28 per cent upped from 23.9 per cent in Q3 2018, while urban dweller reported a rate of 25.4 per cent against 21.2 per cent in Q3 2018.

The report added that rural underemployment rose to 31.5 per cent from 22.8 per cent in Q3 2018, even as urban underemployment rose to 23.2 per cent from 13.7 per cent in Q3 2018.