Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 4.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The bureau said this in its Nigeria Labor Force Survey (NLFS) report for Q4 2022 and Q1 2023, released on Thursday.
In March 2021, the NBS reported that Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 33.3 percent, translating to some 23.2 million people, the highest in at least 13 years and the second highest rate. of the world.
The figure jumped from 27.1 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2020 amid Nigeria’s ongoing economic crisis compounded by the coronavirus pandemic. The unemployment rate in the country has more than quadrupled since 2016, when the economy went into recession.
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
In April 2021, then Nigerian Labor Minister Chris Ngige claimed that the World Bank questioned the methodology used by the NBS to generate its employment statistics.
He added that on several occasions he had consulted the employment statistics published by the BNE.
“We have a virtual meeting of the national economic advisory council with the World Bank to discuss Nigeria’s modalities for the collection of employment statistics data.
“There has been some confusion as to the accuracy of the data generated by the BNE. So, we want to line everything up tomorrow (Thursday). The World Bank says that the NBS methodology does not conform to the global standard, especially the ILO format for arriving at such an employment index. Mr. Ngige said at the time.
READ ALSO: BNE reviews methodology for unemployment report
But the BNE dismissed Mr Ngige’s claim, adding that the World Bank never questioned his methodology.
On Thursday, the NBS said it had improved its labor market data collection methodology through the Nigerian Labor Force Survey (NLFS) in line with International Labor Organization (ILO) guidelines.
“Data collection for the revised NLFS is based on a sample of 35,520 households across the country.
“It is conducted continuously throughout the year, with national level results produced quarterly and state level results at the end of a full year,” the office said.
Reflexes
A breakdown in the new report showed that around three-quarters of Nigerians of working age were employed, 73.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 76.7 percent in the first quarter of 2023.
This, according to the report, shows that most people were doing some form of work for at least one hour a week, for pay or benefit.
It said that about a third (36.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 33.2 percent in the first quarter of 2023) of employed people worked less than 40 hours per week in both quarters.
“This was more common among women, people with lower levels of education, the young, and those living in rural areas.
“The underemployment rate, which is the proportion of employed people who work less than 40 hours a week and declare themselves willing and available to work more, was 13.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 12.2 percent in the first quarter of 2023,” he said.
The NBS said the share of wage employment was 13.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 11.8 percent in the first quarter of 2023.
“Most Nigerians have their own businesses or are engaged in agricultural activities. The shares are 73.1 percent and 75.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, respectively.
“Another 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 10.6 percent in the first quarter of 2023 were engaged in helping out in a home business,” he said.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, 2.6 percent worked as apprentices/interns and 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2023.
“Unemployment stood at 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 4.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023.
“This is in line with rates in other developing countries where work, even for just a few hours and in low-productivity jobs, is essential to make ends meet, particularly in the absence of any social protection for the unemployed.” said the BNE. .
He noted that 22.3 percent of the working-age population was out of the labor force in the fourth quarter of 2022, while in the first quarter of 2023 it was 20.1 percent.
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