Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Unemployment rate rises to 10.4 percent in Nigeria

The National Bureau of Statistics late on Monday night released the country’s labour statistics for the fourth quarter of 2015 with the report putting the country’s unemployment rate at 10.4 per cent.

The Bureau in the report which was made available to our correspondent at about 10:32pm explained that the 10.4 per cent in unemployment rate for the fourth quarter was an increase of 500 basis point over the 9.9 per cent recorded in third quarter of 2015.

It said as was the case in previous quarters, unemployment and underemployment was higher for women than men in the fourth quarter of 2015.

For instance, the report stated that while 12.3 per cent of women in the labour force (those between 15‐65 willing, able and actively working or searching for work) were unemployed in Q4 2015, another 22.0 per cent of women in the labour force were underemployed in Q4 2015.

On the other hand, 8.8 per cent of males were unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2015, while another 15.7 per cent of males in the labour force were underemployed during the same period.

It said Nigeria with an unemployment rate of 10.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015 has a better unemployment rate than reported in 66 countries but worse than 111 countries, including 23 African countries which have unemployment rates lower than 10.4 per cent.

The report reads in part, “Unemployment is not just a Nigerian problem. The International Labour Organisation on whose recommendation most countries in the world unemployment methodology is based including Nigeria, states that 201 million people globally are unemployed and this may rise to 219 million by 2019.

“With eight million Nigerians technically unemployed (not including the remaining 14.4mn underemployed), this means four per cent of the worlds unemployed are Nigerians.

“If we add the number of underemployed in Nigeria (though other countries and the ILO methodology do not add this to unemployment and keep these numbers separate like we now do in Nigeria) in the interest of seeking full time and gainful employment for Nigerians, then Nigeria will represent about 14 per cent of global unemployment.”

PUNCH

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