With the continuous influx of job seekers into the labour market and an increase of unemployment rate by 37.7 per cent in 2022, the unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2023 has dropped significantly.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday said compared to the previous quarter in 2022, unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 from 5.3 percent recorded in the previous quarter.
The bureau had pegged the country’s unemployment rate at 33.3 percent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020.
A statement said the latest unemployment report adopted a new methodology and presented an in-depth analysis of the labour market.
According to NBS the last survey was conducted using the 13th ICLS, which was birthed and adopted in 1982 at the International Conference of Labour Statisticians.
Speaking at the launch of the new methodology in Abuja on Thursday, the Chief Executive Officer of NBS, Semiu Adeniran said the new figure brings Nigeria’s Labour Survey in tandem with international standard.
The survey was conducted in collaboration with the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and has also been adopted by 26 countries in Africa.
He recalled that the figure for the fourth quarter of 2022 was 5.3 percent.
Adeniran said the new methodology considered employed persons as those who engaged in at least one hour of work during the last seven days the survey was conducted.
“The new figure is not to give the new government a good face but to bring up the method used to conduct labour surveys in the country.”
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