AMINA HUSSAINI
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) confirmed on Friday that 21.764 million Nigerians are now unemployed.
According to a report released by the NBS on Friday, the number of unemployed Nigerians went from 20.93 in 2018 to 21.76 million in the second quarter of 2020.
This means more than 17 million Nigerians have become unemployed since December 2014, while the total working age population has grown by almost the same number in those six years.
The NBS said, “A total of 21,764,618 Nigerians are unemployed as of June 2020.
“The unemployment rate in Nigeria during the reference period, Q2, 2020 was 27.1 per cent , up from the 23.1 percent recorded in Q3, 2018.
“The underemployment rate increased from 20.1 percent in Q3, 2018 to 28.6 percent.”
The NBS reports that the number of people in the labour force willing to work dropped.
According to it, there are now at least 10 million people in the labour force unwilling to work.
“The survey indicates that the number of persons in the economically active or working age population (15 – 64 years of age) during the reference period of the survey, Q2, 2020 was 116,871,186. Which is 1.2 percent higher than the figure recorded in Q3, 2018, which was 115,492,969.
“While the survey shows the number of persons in the labour force (i.e. people within ages 15 -64, who are able and willing to work) was estimated to be 80,291,894. This was 11.3 percent less than the number persons in Q3, 2018. Of this number, those within the age bracket of 25-34 were highest, with 23,328,460 or 29.1 percent of the labour force.
“During the reference period the total number of people in employment (i.e. people with jobs) was 58,527,276. Of this number, 35,585,274 were full-time employed (i.e. worked 40+ hours per week), while 22,942,003 were underemployed (i.e.working between 20-29 hours per week). This figure is 15.8 percent less than the people in employment in Q3, 2020,” the government agency said.
The report further stated that “a total number of 2,736,076 did not do any work in the last 7 days preceding the survey due to the lockdown but had secure jobs to return to after the lockdown.”
Under State disaggregation, Imo State has the highest rate of unemployment rate with 48.7 percent.
The South-East State was followed by Akwa-Ibom and Rivers States with 45.2 percent and 43.7 percent respectively while the State with the lowest rate was Anambra in the South-East with 13.1 percent.
For underemployment, the state which recorded the highest rate was Zamfara with 43.7 percent, while Anambra State recorded the lowest underemployment rate, with 17 percent in Q2, 2020.
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