The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the total number of Nigerians
who became unemployed within the first and second quarter of 2016 now
stands at 2.6 million.
According to the bureau, about 1.46 million Nigerians became unemployed in
the third quarter of 2015, while another 518,102 became unemployed in the
fourth quarter of 2015.
This brings the total freshly unemployed persons in the economy to a
record high of 4,580,602, since President Muhammadu Buhari took office in
May 2015.
In its second quarter unemployment and underemployment report released on
Wednesday, NBS said the country’s unemployment rate grew from 12.1 percent
in the first quarter of 2016 to a record high of 13.3 percent in the
second.
“During the reference period, the number of unemployed in the labour force
increased by 1,158,700 persons, resulting in an increase in the national
unemployment rate to 13.3% in Q2 2016 from 12.1 in Q1 2016, 10.4% in Q4
2015 from 9.9% in Q3 2015 and from 8.2% in Q2 2015,” NBS said.
“In view of this, there were a total of 26.06 million persons in the
Nigerian labour force in Q2 2016, that were either unemployed or
underemployed compared to compared to 24.5 million in Q1 2016 and 22.6
million in Q4 2015.”
The economically active population or working age population (persons
within ages 15- 64) increased from 106million in Q1 2016 to 106.69 million
in Q2 2016, the report added.
Underemployment in the economy was also on the rise, with 15.4 million
Nigerians said to be underemployed.
“The number of underemployed in the labour force (those working but doing
menial jobs not commensurate with their qualifications or those not
engaged in full-time work and merely working for few hours) increased by
392,390 or 2.61%, resulting in an increase in the underemployment rate to
19.3 % (15.4million persons) in Q2 2016 from 19.1% (15,02 million persons)
in Q1 2016, 18.7% (14.42 million persons) in Q4 2015, from 17.4% (13.2
million persons) in Q3 2015 and 18.3% (13.5 million persons) in Q2 2015.”
There were a total of 26.06 million persons in the Nigerian labour force
in Q2 2016, that were either unemployed or underemployed compared to
compared to 24.5 million in Q1 2016 and 22.6 million in Q4 2015.