National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said Nigeria’s unemployment rate increased significantly by five percent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023, as against 4.2 percent in the previous quarter.
According to a report published by NBS yesterday, titled “Nigeria Labour Force Survey Q3 2023,” it was revealed that the rate of unemployment among persons with post-secondary education was 7.8 percent in Q3 2023, while unemployment among youths aged 15-24 years was 8.6 percent in Q3 2023, having an increase of 1.4 percent compared to Q2 2023.
The report stated that the labour force participation rate within the working-age population decreased to 79.5 percent in Q3 2023, down from 80.4 percent in the previous quarter.
In the third quarter of 2023, the employment-to-population ratio stood at 75.5 percent, marking a decline of 1.5 percent from the ratio recorded in the second quarter of 2023.
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The report indicated that approximately 87.3 percent of workers were self-employed, while the proportion of workers engaged in wage employment increased to 12.7 percent.
It further stated that the percentage of youth not engaged in employment, education, or training stood at 13.7 per cent in Q3 2023.