Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 5 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.
The bureau said this in its Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS) report for Q3 2023 released on Monday.
The NBS said the rate is an increase of 0.8 per cent from Q2 2023 (4.2 per cent).
“The unemployment rate increased significantly in Q3 2023 at 5.0 per cent. This is an increase of 0.8 per cent from Q2 2023,” the NBS said.
A breakdown of the report showed that the labour force participation rate among the working-age population declined to 79.5 per cent in Q3 2023 compared to 80.4 per cent in Q2 2023.
It said the employment-to-population ratio was 75.6 per cent in Q3 2023 with a decrease of 1.5 per cent compared to the ratio in Q2 2023.
“The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment as a share of the labour force population (LU2) increased to 17.3 per cent in Q3 2023 from 15.5 per cent in Q2 2023,” it said.
The report explained that about 87.3 per cent of workers were self-employed in Q3 2023.
It added that the proportion of workers in wage employment in Q3 2023 was 12.7 per cent.
“The rate of unemployment among persons with post-secondary education was 7.8 per cent in Q3 2023. The unemployment rate among youth aged (15-24 years) was 8.6 per cent in Q3 2023 an increase of 1.4 per cent compared to Q2 2023,” it said.
According to the bureau, the unemployment rate in urban areas was 6.0 per cent in Q3 2023, a slight increase of 0.1 per cent from Q2 2023.
It further explained that time-related underemployment in Q3 2023 was 12.3 per cent, showing a slight increase of 0.5 per cent from the rate recorded in Q2 2023.
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This, it said, shows an increase of 1.4 per cent compared to the rate in Q4 2022.
The report said that 4.1 per cent of the working-age population was in subsistence agriculture in Q3 2023.
“Informal employment rate in Q3 2023 was 92.3 per cent, while Q2 2023 was 92.7 per cent. Percentage of youth Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET Rate) was 13.7 per cent in Q3 2023,” the report said.
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