Unemployment Rate Surges to 5% in Nigeria, NBS Report Shows

February 19, 2024

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, February 19, disclosed that in the third quarter of 2023 (Q3 2023) unemployment rate hit 5%.

This was contained in its document titled: “Nigeria Labour Force Statistics Report Q3 2023.”

NBS said: “The unemployment rate increased significantly in Q3 2023 at 5.0%.”

It recalled that this is an increase of 0.8% from Q2 2023.

NBS further noted that the rate of unemployment among persons with post-secondary education was 7.8% in Q3 2023.

The data said the unemployment rate among youth aged (15-24 years) was 8.6% in Q3 2023, noting that there was an increase of 1.4% compared to Q2 2023.

According to the report, the unemployment rate in urban areas was 6.0% in Q3 2023, a slight increase of 0.1% from Q2 2023.

NBS said time-related underemployment in Q3 2023 was 12.3%, showing a slight increase of 0.5% from the rate recorded in Q2 2023.

This, it said, shows an increase of 1.4% compared to the rate in Q4 2022.

In the period under review, 4.1% of the working-age population was in subsistence agriculture.

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The document said the informal employment rate in Q3 2023 was 92.3%, while Q2 2023 was 92.7%.

The percentage of youth Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET Rate), according to the report, was 13.7% in Q3 2023.

NBS noted that the labour force participation rate among the working-age population declined to 79.5% in Q3 2023 compared to 80.4% in Q2 2023.