Unemployment Rate Hits 4.2 Percent As More Women Are Driven Out Of Labour Force Participation, NBS

Statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that more Nigerians are getting unemployed as the rate of unemployment as at end of second quarter, 2023 hits 4.2 percent against 4.1 percent recorded in first quarter of the same year.

Also, there is growing number of persons with post-secondary education as well as those within the age brackets of 15-24 years.

This is even as the participation rate of men in the labour force under the reviewed period stood at 82.1 per cent while for women records stood at 78.8 per cent.

The Statistician General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran,
revealed that “The rate of unemployment among persons with post-secondary education was 8 per cent in Q2 2023, while unemployment rate among youths aged (15-24 years) in Q2 2023 was 7.2 per cent, compared to 6.9 per cent in Q1 2023.”

Other indications from the data released showed that Urban unemployment was 5.9 per cent in Q2 2023, compared with 5.4 per cent in Q1 2023, while unemployment in the rural areas was 2.5 per cent, down from the 2.9 percent recorded in Q1 2023.

“The share of those in wage employment was 12.0 per cent in Q2 2023, a marginal increase from the 11.08 per cent recorded in Q1 2023.

“The rate of informal employment, which is the share of employed persons working in the informal sector and informal employment (including agriculture) in Q2 2023 was 92.7 per cent, a slight increase from the rate reported in Q1 2023, 92.6 per cent.

“The rate of informal employment among people living in rural areas was 97.3 per cent while the urban informal employment was estimated at 88 per cent.

“Time-related underemployment rate which is the share of employed people working less than 40 hours per week and declaring themselves willing and available to do more hours of work in Q2 2023 was 11.8 per cent. This indicates a decline compared to the rate recorded in Q1 2023, which was 12.2 per cent.

“The survey also collected information on the proportion of Youths aged (15-24 years) who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET). The figure for the reference quarter was estimated to be 13.9 per cent”, the Statistician General said.

The labour force participation rate stood at 80.4 per cent in Q2 2023, which was higher than the participation rate recorded in Q1 2023 (79.9 per cent).

The participation rate was higher in the rural areas with 82.6 per cent, while the urban areas recorded 78.4 per cent, indicating that most people were engaged in some form of work either for pay or profit, during the reference period

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