The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that 5.4% of Nigerians, approximately 4.8 million individuals within the working-age population, were unemployed in 2023.
This is based on the NBS’s new methodology, which defines the labor force as individuals aged 15 and above who are willing, available, and able to work during the survey period.
Unlike the previous approach that required 20 hours of work, the new method counts those who worked at least one hour in the previous seven days as employed.
In its press release on the 2023 Annual and Q1 2024 Nigeria Labour Force Survey results, NBS noted that 116.6 million Nigerians, or 53.8% of the total population, fall into the working-age category, with women making up 52% of this group and men accounting for 48%. Of this, 84.1 million were employed in 2023, with 20.6 million aged between 15 and 24.
The employment-to-population ratio in 2023 stood at 72.2%, with rural areas outperforming urban areas. Bauchi State had the highest employment rate at 88.4%, while Rivers State had the lowest at 55.7%.
Informal employment accounted for 92.2% of the total employed population, with Kano State leading in informal workers at 5.2 million.
The national unemployment rate was 5.4%, with Abia State recording the highest rate at 18.7%, while Nasarawa had the lowest at 0.5%.
Among various educational levels, the unemployment rate was highest for individuals with post-secondary education at 9.4%.
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