Unemployment in Nigeria Rises to 5.3% in Q1 2024

The Nigerian unemployment rate increased to 5.3 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 from 5.0 percent reported in 2023.

However, the report showed that the unemployment rate among youths decreased to 8.4% in Q1 2024 from 8.6% reported in Q3 2023.

In the same vein, there was a 0.7% increase in the engagement of youths in employment, education, and training.

“The percentage of Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET Rate) was 14.4, indicating a 0.7 percentage point increase from Q3 2023,” the report revealed.

The report further revealed that females recorded a higher unemployment rate of 6.2 percent compared to males at 4.3 percent.

In terms of employees’ availability for additional hours of work, there was a decline from 12.3 percent in Q3 2023 to 10.6 percent in Q1 2024.

It was also reported that despite this improvement, self-employment remains dominant, with 84% of Nigeria’s labor force engaged in self-employment as against 86% in Q1 2023.

Focusing on environmental metrics, the report revealed that the unemployment rate in urban areas remained unchanged at 6.0 percent, while rural unemployment stood at 4.3 percent, with 91.9 percent of workers in rural areas being self-employed, compared to 78.2 percent in urban regions.

In addition, 82.5% of the labor force in rural areas and 74 percent in urban areas were actively participating in the workforce.

However, by gender, male participation stood at 77.5 percent, while female participation was slightly lower at 77.1 percent.

“Disaggregation by place of residence shows 82.5 percent in rural and 74.0 percent in urban areas. The participation rate among males was 77.5 percent and 77.1 percent for females,” the report read.

Furthermore, the report revealed that the labor force participation rate among the working-age population declined to 77.3 percent in Q1 2024 from 79.5 percent in Q3 2023.