Between January and September this year, a total number of 4.07
million Nigerians became unemployed, an analysis of the unemployment
report for the third quarter released by the National Bureau of
Statistics has revealed.
The bureau in the report, made available
to our correspondent on Friday, stated that the number of Nigerians
that became unemployed rose from 11.92 million in the first quarter of
this year to 13.58 million and 15.99 million in the second and third
quarters respectively.
It said between the second quarter and
third quarter, the number of economically active or working age
population (15 – 64 years of age) increased from 110.3 million to 111.1
million.
The NBS report said the increasing unemployment and
underemployment rates imply that although Nigeria’s economy is
officially out of recession, domestic labor market is still fragile and
economic growths in the past two quarters in 2017 have not been strong
enough to provide employment in Nigeria’s domestic labor market.
It reads in part,
“The
labor force population increased from 83.9 million in Q2 2017 to 85.1
million in Q3 2017. The total number of people in full-time employment
(at least 40 hours a week) declined from 52.7 million in Q2 2017 to 51.1
million in Q3 2017.“The unemployment rate increased from 14.2 per cent in Q4 2016 to 16.2 per cent in Q2 2017 and 18.8 per cent in Q3 2017.
“The
number of people within the labor force who are unemployed or
underemployed increased from 13.6 million and 17.7 million respectively
in Q2 2017, to 15.9 million and 18.0 million in Q3 2017.“Total
unemployment and underemployment combined increased from 37.2 per cent
in the previous quarter to 40 per cent in Q3 2017.”
It
said during the third quarter of this year, 21.2 per cent of women
within the labor force that were between the ages of 15 years and 64
years and willing, able, and actively seeking work were unemployed,
compared with 16.5 per cent of men within the same period.
The
NBS noted in the report that in the third quarter of this year,16.4 per
cent of rural and 23.4 per cent of urban dwellers within the labor force
were unemployed. It added that the rate of unemployment is increasing
at a slightly faster rate for urban dwellers than it was for their rural
counterparts