4 million Nigerians lose jobs in 9 months —NBS

DATA from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have shown that over four million Nigerians lost their jobs in the first nine months of this year.

Total number of unemployed and underemployed Nigerians also rose to 40 per cent at the end of September according to figures just released by the NBS. In the Unemployment and Underemployment Report Q1 (first quarter) to Q3, 2017 posted on its website on Friday, NBS said “total number of people in full-time employment (at least 40 hours a week) declined from 52.7 million in Q2 2017 to 51.1 million in Q3 2017. “The number of people within the labor force who are unemployed or underemployed increased from 13.6 million and 17.7 million respectively in Q2 2017, to 15.9 million and 18.0 million in Q3 2017,” thus making the total number of Nigerians who lost their jobs during the period to be four million. “Total unemployment and underemployment combined increased from 37.2% in the previous quarter to 40.0% in Q3 2017.” The agency explained that as of Q3 2017, 67.3 percent of young people aged 15-24 years were either underemployed (engaged in work for less than 20 hours a week or low skilled work not commensurate with their skills and qualifications) or unemployed (have no work at all but willing and actively seeking to work), compared to 64.6 percent in the previous quarter. Combined underemployment plus unemployment rate for the 25 to 34-year age group stood at 42.5% within the quarter under review, compared with 39.6% in the previous quarter. Combined unemployment and underemployment rate for the entire youth labor force (15-35 years) was 52.65 percent or 22.64 million (10.96 million unemployed and another 11.68 million underemployed), compared to 45.65 per cent in Q3 2016, 47.41 per cent in Q4 2016 and 49.70 per cent in Q3 2017. “States with higher focus on seasonal agriculture tend to have higher rates of underemployment compared to unemployment and may swing from high fulltime employment during periods of planting and harvest when they are fully engaged on their farms to periods of underemployment and even unemployment at other periods in between. “States with higher propensity of women to marry early or be housewives and hence will not be considered part of the labor force also tend to have lower unemployment rates. “These States tend to have higher proportion of their economically active populations outside the labor force thereby reducing the number looking for work and hence the number that can be unemployed”, it noted. During Q3 2017, Rivers state reported the highest unemployment rate (41.82 percent) followed by Akwa-Ibom (36.58 percent), Bayelsa state (30.36 per cent), and Imo state (29.47 per cent) while Katsina, Jigawa, Gombe, and Yobe, recorded the highest underemployment rates during the reviewing period, of 46.19 per cent, 43.01 percent, 38.38 percent and 35.3 per cent respectively. The NBS report said the increasing unemployment and underemployment rates imply that although Nigeria’s economy is officially out of recession, domestic labor market is still fragile and economic growths in the past two quarters in 2017 have not been strong enough to provide employment in Nigeria’s domestic labour market.