THE National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, painted a gloomy picture of the unemployment situation in Nigeria when it said that Nigerians who lost their jobs in 2016 rose by 2.1 million to 11.55 million from 9.48 million at the beginning of the year.

The NBS latest report on unemployment stated that the jobless rate was highest for persons in the labour force between the ages of 15-24 and 25-34, which represents the youth population in Nigeria. It was highest for those within the age bracket of 15 to 24, rising from 25 per cent to 25.2 per cent.

The unemployment rate for those aged between 25 and 34 increased from 15 per cent to 15.4 per cent, NBS said, adding that unemployment and underemployment were higher for women than men in the fourth quarter of 2016. About 16.3 per cent of women in the labour force were unemployed as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to 12.3 per cent for males.

“The economically active population increased from 108.03 million to 108.59 million; this represents a 0.5 per cent increase over the previous quarter and a 3.4 per cent increase when compared to fourth quarter 2015. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the labour force population increased to 81.15 million from 80.67 million in the third quarter of 2016, representing an increase of 0.6 per cent in the labour force during the quarter.

“This means about 482,689 persons from the economically active population entered the labour force during the quarter, that is, individuals that were able, willing and actively looking for work.”

– June 7, 2017 @ 7:25 GMT |