Nigeria’s Unemployment Rate Rises To 4.3%

Unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in Nigeria, showing an increase of 0.1 percentage point in second quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year, latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.

Youth unemployment rate was 6.5% in Q2 2024, showing a decrease from 8.4% in Q1 2024.

The NBS released the quarterly report on Monday, which also showed that unemployment rate among males was 3.4% and 5.1% among females. By place of residence, the unemployment rate was 5.2% in urban areas and 2.8% in rural areas.

The NBS data showed that in the second quarter of 2024, the share of underemployed Nigerians was 9.2%, a decline of 1.4 percentage points from the 10.6% recorded in Q1 2024.

The share of the underemployed men was 7.1%, while the underemployment rate among women was 11.2% for the quarter.

On the flip side, in Q2 2024, the number of employed Nigeria was 76.1% of the total working-age population, up from 73.1% in Q1 2024. Disaggregating by sex, the employment-to-population ratio was 77.2% for males and 75% for females in Q2 2024. “Employment-to-population ratio was 76.1% in Q2 2024.”

According to NBS, the new figure shows an increase of 2.9 percentage points on employed persons compared to 73.2 in Q1 2024. However, year on year comparison shows a slight decrease from Q2 2023 at 77.1%

Additionally, the employment-to-population ratio in urban areas was 73.2% and 80.8% in rural areas in Q2 2024.

“This is an increase in the ratio compared to the 69.5% and 78.9% in Q1 2023, respectively,” the NBS said in the report that was posted on its website.

The labour force participation rate among the working-age population increased to 79.5% in Q2 2024 from 77.3% in Q1 2024.

Informal employment remains high at 93%. The bureau statistics said 3.7% of the working-age population was in subsistence agriculture in Q2 2024.