Nigeria’s unemployment rate increased significantly in the third quarter of 2023, rising by 0.8% from Q2 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

In its ‘Nigeria Labour Force Survey Q3 2023’ report published on Monday, the NBS said the country’s unemployment rate rose sharply from the 4.2% recorded in Q2 2023 to 5.0% in Q3 2023.

The NBS said the labour force participation rate among the working-age population declined to 79.5% in Q3 2023 compared to 80.4% in Q2 2023.
Giving a breakdown of the statistics, the Bureau said, “The employment-to-population ratio was 75.6% in Q3 2023 with a decrease of 1.5% compared to a ratio of Q2 2023.
“The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment as a share of the labour force population (LU2) increased to 17.3% in Q3 2023 from 15.5% in Q2 2023. About 87.3% of workers were self-employed in Q3 2023. The proportion of workers in Wage Employment in Q3 2023 was 12.7%. The unemployment rate increased significantly in Q3 2023 at 5.0%. This is an increase of 0.8% from Q2 2023.

The rate of unemployment among persons with post-secondary education was 7.8% in Q3 2023.”

The NBS said unemployment rate among youth aged (15-24 years) was 8.6% in Q3 2023, recording an ncrease of 1.4% compared to Q2 2023. “The unemployment rate in urban areas was 6.0% in Q3 2023, a slight increase of 0.1% from Q2 2023. Time-related underemployment in Q3 2023 was 12.3%, showing a slight increase of 0.5% from the rate recorded in Q2 2023. This shows an increase of 1.4% compared to the rate in Q4 2022. 4.1% of the working-age population was in subsistence agriculture in Q3 2023. Informal employment rate in Q3 2023 was 92.3%, while Q2 2023 was 92.7%. Percentage of youth Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET Rate) was 13.7% in Q3 2023,” the report added.