Nigeria Unemployment Rate Rises to 12.1% in Q1

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday said the number of unemployed Nigerians within the working population increased by 1,449,180 people between the final quarter (Q4) of 2015 and first quarter (Q1) of 2016.

This led to an increase in the unemployment rate to 12.1 percent in Q1 2016 from 10.4 percent recorded in Q4 2015, and 9.9 percent in Q3 2015.

According to NBS, those underemployed in the labour force or doing jobs not commensurate with their qualifications increased by 607,613 persons to 15.2 million from 14.41 million in Q4 2015. This increase is as a result of increase in informal sector job creation compared to formal sector where lesser jobs were being created, forcing people to settle for less preferred jobs.

Also, the number of active persons willing and able to work and actively seeking work that were either underemployed or unemployed rose to 24.50 million in Q1 2016 from 22.45 million in Q4 2015.

Women unemployment and underemployment continued to be higher than men in Q1 2016. About 14 percent of women in the labour force were unemployed in Q1 2106, compared with 10.3 percent unemployed men in Q3 2015, while another 22.2 percent of women in the labour force are said to be underemployed in the same quarter, also more than 16.2 percent of males in the labour force that were underemployed.

But overall, when the Nigerian unemployment rate is compared with the global International Labour Organization (ILO) 2016 forecast of 5.9 percent, the 12.1 percent recorded in Q1 2016 is higher than the global average.