Nigeria’s Unemployed Rate Rises By 861,110 in the 1st-quarter of 2015

Efforts by federal and state governments to reduce the rate of unemployment appears not to be yielding results, as the number of unemployed persons in the country rose by 861,110 in the first quarter of this year.

This represents a 7.5 per cent compared to 6.4 per cent unemployed rate in the last quarter of last year.

In the quarter under review, the labour market increased to 73.4 million from the 72.9 million mark in the 4th-quarter of 2014, representing an increase of 0.69 per cent.

This implies that 504,596 economically active persons within 15-64 years entered the labour market or were actively looking for work between January 1 and March 31, 2015.

The figure was contained in the Unemployment/Under-Employment Watch published by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, at the weekend for the three-month period ended March 31, 2015.

The report indicated that during the quarter, the total number in full employment (did something for at least 40hours) increased by 0.88 per cent while the underemployed during the review quarter declined by 6.46 per cent, resulting in a reduction in the underemployment rate to 16.6 per cent (or 12.2 million) from 17.9 per cent (13.1 million) in the preceding quarter.

The NBS stated:
“The number of unemployed in the labour force, on the other hand increased by 861,110 persons or 18.43 per cent between the 4th-quarter of 2014 and 1st-quarter of 2015, resulting in an increase in the unemployment rate to 7.5 per cent in the 1st-quarter of 2015 from 6.4 per cent in the 4th-quarter of 2015.
“Accordingly there were a total of 17.7 million people between ages 15-65 either unemployed or underemployed in the labour force in the 1st-quarter of 2015.
“The fact that the number of people that became unemployed (861,110 people) in the first quarter 2015 exceed the number of people that entered the labour force within the same period (504,596 persons) is an indication that some persons previously working in full employment lost their jobs, while others previously underemployed and doing temporary or part time work ended whatever they were doing and accordingly now didn’t have anything to do for at least 20 hours a week during the reference period.
“Evidence of the latter case may be seen in the drop in the underemployment rate and simultaneous rise in unemployment.”

The Bureau also reported that when analysed by age basis, unemployment and underemployment was highest for the youth population between the ages of 15-24 and 25-34 which represents the youth population in the labour force.

According to the bureau, while the unemployment rate for those within ages 15-24 was highest at 13.7 per cent within the review period, up from 11.7 per cent in the 4th-quarter of 2014, the underemployment rate for those within the ages 15-24 was 30.6 per cent.

For those in the labour force within the ages of 25-34 however, unemployment rose to 8.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year from 6.9 per cent in the last quarter of 2014, while underemployment stood at 17.7 per cent within the period under review from 19.0 per cent in the 4th-quarter of 2014.

The Bureau reported that based on the above trend, 44.3 per cent of Nigerians in the labour force (not entire population) aged 15-24 were either unemployed or underemployed, while another 25.9 per cent, aged 25-34 were either unemployed or underemployed in the quarter under review.

A further decomposition of the unemployment/under-employment rate on gender basis showed that unemployment and underemployment was higher for women than men in the 1st-quarter of 2015.

The NBS stated that while 8.9 per cent of women in the labour force (those between 15-65 willing, able and actively working or searching for work) were unemployed in the 1st-quarter of 2015, up from 7.5 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter, on the other hand, 6.3 per cent of males were unemployed at the same period.

Similarly, the Bureau noted that while 19.6 per cent were underemployed in the quarter under review, up from 5.4 per cent in the 4th-quarter of 2014, the underemployed males in the labour force stood at 13.9 per cent at the end of the first quarter this year.