Florence Uwaeme
The unemployment rate in Nigeria jumped to 27.1%, in the second quarter of 2020, a 4% rise form 23.1% it was at the third quarter of 2018, data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS released on Friday showed.
The data also showed that the underemployment rate increased from 20.1% in Q3, 2018 to 28.6%.
According to the NBS data, the unemployment rate among rural dwellers was 28%, up from 23.9% in Q3, 2018, while urban dwellers reported a rate of 25.4%, up from 21.2%.
The NBS explained that in the case of underemployment among rural dwellers, it rose to 31.5% from 22.8%, while the rate among urban dwellers rose to 23.2% from 13.7% in Q3, 2018.
Highlights of the Labour Force Statistics showed that the total number of people in employment (i.e. people with jobs) during the reference period was 58,527,276.
“Of this number, 35,585,274 were full-time employed (i.e. worked 40+ hours per week), while 22,942,003 were underemployed (i.e. working between 20-29 hours per week). This figure is 15.8% less than the people in employment in Q3, 2020”, it said.
The unemployment rate among young people (15-34years) was 34.9% in 202, up from 29.7%, while the rate of underemployment for the same age group rose to 28.2% from 25.7% in Q3, 2018.
On State disaggregation, Imo State reported the highest rate of unemployment with 48.7%, followed by Akwa-Ibom State and Rivers State with 45.2% and 43.7% respectively.
The State with the lowest rate was Anambra in the South-East with 13.1%.
The data showed that a total number of 2,736,076 did not do any work in the last 7 days preceding the survey due to the lockdown but had secure jobs to return to after the lockdown.
For underemployment, the state which recorded the highest rate was Zamfara with 43.7%, while Anambra State recorded the lowest underemployment rate, with 17% in Q2, 2020.
