The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that the number of people unemployed in Nigeria increased from 21.77 million people in the second quarter of 2020 to 23.19 million people in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The report released Monday showed that the working-age population rose from 116.88 million people in the second quarter of last year to 122.05 million people by the end of the year.
The report revealed that the number of persons in the labour force, being people within ages 15 to 64, who are able and willing to work, dipped from 80.29 million people as at the second quarter of 2020 to 69.68 million as at the end of December 2020, being 13.22 per cent less than the number of persons in the second quarter of 2020.
The analysis showed that the number of people in employment (i.e., people with jobs) during the reference period was 46.49 million people, being 20.6 per cent less than the people in employment in the second quarter of 2020.
Out of the total people in employment in the final quarter of 2020, 30.57 million people were full-time employed (i.e., worked 40+ hours per week), while 15.92 million people under-employed (i.e., working between 20-29 hours per week).
The report showed that the unemployment rate during the fourth quarter of 2020 was 33.3 per cent, being an increase from the 27.1 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2020, even as the underemployment rate declined from 28.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 to 22.8 per cent.
For the fourth quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate among young people (15- 34years) was 42.5 per cent up from 34.9 per cent, while the rate of underemployment for the same age group declined to 21.0 per cent from 28.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2020.
The report showed that Imo State reported the highest rate of unemployment with 56.6 per cent.
This was followed by Adamawa and Cross River States with 54.9 per cent and 53.7 per cent respectively, while the state with the lowest rate was Osun in the South-West with 11.7 per cent.
For underemployment, the state which recorded the highest rate was Benue with 43.5 per cent, while Lagos State recorded the lowest underemployment rate, with 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020.
