Nigeria’s unemployment rate grew dramatically in the third quarter of 2023, jumping by 0.8% from the second quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In its ‘Nigeria Labour Force Survey Q3 2023’ report, issued on Monday, the NBS stated that the country’s unemployment rate increased substantially from 4.2% in Q2 2023 to 5.0% in Q3.
According to the NBS, the working-age population’s labor-force participation rate fell to 79.5% in Q3 2023, down from 80.4% in Q2.
According to the Bureau, the employment-to-population ratio was 75.6% in Q3 2023, a 1.5% decrease from the previous quarter.
“The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment as a share of the labor force population (LU2) rose to 17.3% in Q3 2023, up from 15.5% in Q2 2023.
“Approximately 87.3% of workers were self-employed in Q3 2023.
“In the third quarter of 2023, 12.7% of workers were in wage employment.
“The unemployment rate grew sharply in Q3 2023, reaching 5.0%. This is an increase of 0.8% over Q2 2023.
“The rate of unemployment among persons with post-secondary education was 7.8% in Q3 2023.”
According to the NBS, the unemployment rate among youth aged 15 to 24 years was 8.6% in Q3 2023, up 1.4% from Q2 2023.
“The urban unemployment rate was 6.0% in the third quarter of 2023, up 0.1% from the second quarter.
“Time-related underemployment in Q3 2023 was 12.3%, a 0.5% increase over the rate in Q2 2023.” This represents an increase of 1.4% over the rate in Q4 2022.
“In the third quarter of 2023, subsistence agriculture employed 4.1% of the working-age population.
The informal employment rate in Q3 2023 was 92.3%, compared to 92.7% in Q2 2023.
“Percentage of youth Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET Rate) was 13.7% in Q3 2023,” according to the report.
