The second quarter of 2020 has been shut down to be a bleak one as 21.77 million youths have been reported as unemployed. This 27.1% increase is in stark comparison to the 20.93 million figure (23.1) of the third quarter of 2018.
The National Bureau of Statistics noted that the figure posed an increase of 836,969 persons without jobs and the unemployment rate stood at 11.7 per cent according to international standard.
The following are a breakdown of the report submitted by Labour Force Statistics’ “Abridged Labour Force Survey Under COVID-19”
- 52 million – without jobs,
- 94 million – engaged in contract jobs or underemployed (28.6% from 20.1% in 2018)
- 59 million – engaged in full-time employment.
- 39 million – working-age population,
- 29 million – belongs to the active labour force,
- 10 million – not in the labour force.
Imo state recorded the highest employment rate (48.7%), followed by Akwa Ibom’s 45.2% and Rivers 43.7%.
Anambra, Kwara and Sokoto posted the lowest employment rates of 13.1%, 13.8% and 13.9% respectively.
