Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2023 from 4.1 percent in the previous quarter, the latest Nigeria Labour Force Survey has shown.
Africa’s biggest economy, with more than 200 million people, had an all-time high unemployment rate of 33.3 percent in Q4 2020 but it fell to 4.1 percent in Q1, 2023 – from 5.3% in Q4 2022 – following the new methodology adopted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
A breakdown of the report showed that the unemployment rate among men was 3.5 percent and among women was 5.9 percent in Q2 2023. Disaggregation by location, the unemployment rate was 5.9 percent in urban areas and 2.5 percent in rural areas.
“Focusing on young people, the unemployment rate for 15-24-year-olds was 7.2 percent in Q2,” the report said.
It said in terms of educational attainment, the unemployment rate was 8.0 percent for those with post-secondary education, 5.4 percent for those with upper secondary education, 3.7 percent for those with lower secondary education, 3.0 percent for those with primary education, and 2.5 percent for those with no formal education.
“The labour force participation rate among the working-age population remained high at 80.4 percent in Q2. Employment-to-population ratio was 77.1 percent in Q2. The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment as a share of the labour force population (LU2) was 15.5 percent in Q2,” it added.
The unemployment rate is defined as the share of the labour force (the combination of unemployed and employed people) who are not employed but who are actively searching and are available for work.
According to the statistical agency, most workers (around 88.0 percent) were in self-employment in Q2. The proportion of workers in wage employment in Q2 was 12 percent.
“The unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.9 percent in Q2, an increase from 5.4 percent in Q1. Time-related underemployment in Q2 was 11.8 percent. 4.8 percent of the working-age population were in subsistence agriculture and informal employment rate in Q2 was 92.7 percent.”
