The current harsh economic condition in Nigeria may be forcing companies to prioritise the recruitment of experienced talents rather than fresh graduates to save on training cost.
Analysis shows that companies employ more people between the ages of 35 and 44 at a higher rate than unemployed people around 25-34 age-range, who are usually fresh graduates from tertiary institutions.
This situation is leading to an increase of youth unemployment in Africa’s most populous country.
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“Companies going for experienced staff means that fresh graduates will find it difficult to get jobs, which will further intensify unemployment situations, especially among the fresh graduates,” Damilola Adewale, a Lagos-based economic analyst, says.
A breakdown of the fourth quarter (Q4) labour statistics data by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that out of a total of 30.6 million fully employed persons or working more than 40 hours per week, those that are within the age group of (35-44) with 9.5 million (31%) are most employed than those within the ages of (25-34) with 8.3 million (27.1%).
Also, when comparing against the period of Q3 2018, (35-44) still account for the largest number of employed persons, but it has increased. For (35-44), 28 percent of employed persons have increased by three points to 31 percent in Q4 2020, while for (25-34), it has only increased marginally from 27 percent to 27.1.
Funbi Matthew, a business management and human resource professional, notes that normally, the labour market is expected to train and absorb fresh graduates but with the economy being tight at the moment, it is now a function of experience.
“Organisations cannot afford to run an inflated manpower budget so they have to make sure they recruit as limited a number of people as possible to get the job done. And that means that they have to get people who can do the job,” Matthew states.
Typically, people with experience understand the perspectives across domains and managerial structures more clearly, which makes them more productive and responsible with projects than the less experienced candidates.
Africa’s biggest economy slummed into two recessions in the past five years owing to the collapse in oil prices and disruptions caused by the COVID-10 pandemic.
Data from the NBS show headline inflation, which serves as a measure of consumer prices, rose by 17.93 percent in May 2021, while Nigeria’s unemployment rate came to 33.3 percent in 2020, as more and more were rendered jobless from the impact of COVID-19.
“Companies are repositioning staff that have multidisciplinary skill sets that they can use to keep their operations sustainable, they are more likely to keep those ones and redefine their roles within the company. While people who do not really have that much experience would be let go,” Jennifer Oyelade, director of Transquisite Consulting, an international human resource consultancy, says.
Sixty-five percent of Nigeria’s population are under 30, presenting an economic advantage, but due to few job opportunities in an economy marked by slow growth, the country’s strength is turning to a handicap, as many jobless youths take to crime.
Experts advise that the youth should develop new skills and quantify it by engaging in training programmes to certify the practice experience gained.
