The recently released job creation report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) focused on 18 sectors in which education emerged as the leading source of new jobs in H1 2014, by contributing 36.90 percent in the sector share of jobs created.
The NBS report showed that 500,244 total jobs were created for the period, implying a 2.3 percent decrease from the figure recorded in the corresponding year of 2013.
The Education sector created a total of 29,060 jobs in Q2 2014 and 23, 643 jobs in Q1 2014. This shows a 19 percent drop from Q1 2014 to Q2 2014.
This is followed by the Manufacturing sector that contributed 14.14 percent, and followed by water supply, sewage, waste management and remediation, which contributed 12.05 percent to the total.
As part of efforts to monitor employment, the NBS started conducting quarterly job creation surveys which commenced from the third quarter of 2012.
Since the commencement of the quarterly surveys by NBS (2012Q3 -2014Q2), Education sector has created the most jobs.
An analyst says that it can be driven by population growth and associated demand for human services.
The Manufacturing sector is also expanding mostly through increasing demand for consumption goods in food and beverages, clothing and footwear sub-sectors and the growth that is also driven by rising demand by surging populations, according to the analyst.
Job creation remains a centrepiece of President Goodluck Jonathan administration’s efforts owing largely to the prevailing high rate of unemployment, particularly among the youth.
Job creation is being measured by the ratio of the unemployed labour force that is actively looking for employment to total labour force.
The figure consists of 154,773 jobs in the formal sector, 334,680 in the informal sector and 10,771 jobs in the public sector. The informal sector, which recorded the most jobs of 334,680, represents 67 percent of total jobs created in H1 2014.
The biggest jump in sectors was seen in the water supply, sewage, waste management and remediation sector from 12 jobs in Q1 2014 to 9,487 jobs in Q2 2014.
According to the NBS report, formal jobs refer to employment generated in establishments that employ 10 persons and above, or formal professional services that employ less than 10 persons.
Informal jobs are those generated by individuals or businesses employing less that 10 or those businesses operating with little or no structures, example, those in agriculture, wholesale and retail trade. Public institutions, on the other hand, are government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and academic and research institutions at federal, state and local government levels as reported earlier by BusinessDay.
The Federal Government Transformation Agenda places emphasis on employment generation sustain growth in the private sector and an improved climate for business to thrive.
Josephine Okojie
