Nigeria’s Unemployment Rate Rises by 4.2 percent in Q2, 2023 – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that the country’s  unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2023.

In a just released report, the NBS said the figure was a marginal increase of 0.1 percent from 4.1 percent recorded in Q1 2023.

According to the NBS, the reports was produced using the bureau’s newly adopted methodology which was made public in August – where the NBS defined employed persons as individuals who work for at least one hour in seven days.

The report explained that 80.4 percent of Nigeria’s labour force in the working-age population participated in the survey and  that unemployment rate among men was 3.5 percent and 5.9 percent among women.

“Disaggregation by location, the unemployment rate was 5.9 percent in urban areas and 2.5 percent in rural areas,” the report added.

Furthermore, the report indicated that youth unemployment also increased in Q2 of 2023.

increase form 12.1% and 10% in Q4,2022 and Q1,2023 respectively,” the report said.