The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, January 29, said the unemployment rate rose by 0.1% to 4.2% in the second quarter of 2023 (Q2 2023).
This was contained in its document tagged: “Nigeria Labour Force Survey Q2 2023,” Which said the rate rose from the 4.1% recorded in Q1 2023.
“The unemployment rate in Q2 2023 was 4.2%, this is an increase of 0.1% from the figure recorded in Q1 2023 (4.1%),” said NBS.
The document noted that the unemployment rate among persons with post-secondary education was 8% in Q2 2023.
NBS also noted that the unemployment rate among youth aged (15-24 years) in Q2 2023 was 7.2% having been at 6.9% in Q1 2023.
According to the document, the unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.9% in Q2 2023, an increase from 5.4% in Q1 2023.
NBS said time-related underemployment in Q2 2023 was 11.8%. 4.8% of the working-age population were in subsistence agriculture. Informal employment rate in Q2 2023, according to NBS, was 92.7%.
The document noted that the percentage of youth Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET Rate) was 13.8%.
NBS explained that the results presented in the survey are based on the resolutions concerning work, employment, and underutilisation statistics from the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS 2013).
It further noted that the labour force participation rate among the working-age population remained high at 80.4% in Q2 2023.
NBS said: “The employment-to-population ratio was 77.1% in Q2 2023. The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment as a share of the labour force population (LU2) was 15.5% in Q2 2023. Most workers (around 88.0%) were in self-employment in Q2 2023. The proportion of workers in Wage Employment in Q2 2023 was 12%.”
