Undeterred by the loud outcry that greeted its labour force report in the first quarter of 2023 which put the unemployment rate at 4.1 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS), says the nation’s unemployment rate in the second quarter 2023 is 4.2 percent.
This is a marginal increase of just 0.1 percent.
Reacting to the rejection of its first quarter unemployment rate report, NBS had explained that it was based on a new methodology which makes someone who works for at least one hour a week an employed person.
This methodology has been roundly criticised by Nigerians including government officials describing it as misleading.
Speaking at a function recently, the Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele described the 4 percent unemployment rate as a farce. According to him, “Even the person who works for one hour a week does not consider himself as employed, how can anyone say such a person is employed?
The latest Nigeria Labour Force Survey Q2 2023 report also shows the bulk of Nigerians, 92.7 percent are employed in the informal sector. While the percentage of youth Not in Employment, Education nor Training (NEET Rate) was 13.8 percent.
The report said that the combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment as a share of the labour force population (LU2) was 15.5 percent.
According to the report, “The labour force participation rate among the working-age population remained high at 80.4 percent in Q2 2023. The employment-to-population ratio was 77.1 percent.
“While most workers (around 88.0 percent) were in self-employment during the period. The proportion of workers in Wage Employment in Q2 2023 was 12 percent.”
The report further noted that the rate of unemployment among persons with post-secondary education was 8 percent in Q2 2023. While the Unemployment rate among youth aged (15-24 years) in Q2 2023 was 7.2 percent, an increase from 6.9 percent in Q1 2023.
It says the Unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.9 percent in Q2 2023, an increase from 5.4 percent in Q1 2023.
“Time-related underemployment in Q2 2023 was 11.8 percent,” NBS said, adding that 8 percent of the working-age population were in subsistence agriculture.