The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 5.3% in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.
In its report titled “Nigeria Labour Force Survey” released on Tuesday, the NBS noted that this represents a 0.3% increase compared to the 5% recorded in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023.
The labour force participation rate among the working-age population dropped to 77.3% in Q1 2024, down from 79.5% in Q3 2023. Additionally, the employment-to-population ratio fell to 73.2% in Q1 2024, a decline of 2.4 percentage points from 75.6% in Q3 2023.
The combined unemployment rate and time-related underemployment, as a share of the labour force population (LU2), decreased to 15.3% in Q1 2024 from 17.3% in Q3 2023. Similarly, the proportion of workers in wage employment rose to 16.0% in Q1 2024, marking an increase of 3.3 percentage points from 12.7% in Q3 2023.
The unemployment rate among individuals with post-secondary education stood at 9.0% in Q1 2024, while the unemployment rate among youth aged 15-24 decreased slightly to 8.4% in Q1 2024 from 8.6% in Q3 2023.
In urban areas, the unemployment rate remained stable at 6.0% in both Q1 2024 and Q3 2023.Time-related underemployment dropped to 10.6% in Q1 2024, down from 12.3% in Q3 2023.Additionally, 4.5% of the working-age population was engaged in subsistence agriculture in Q1 2024.
The percentage of youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET rate) rose to 14.4%, representing a 0.7 percentage point increase from Q3 2023.
