The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of Nigeria, the unemployment rate was 5.3%. This for the fourth quarter of 2022 and 4.1% in the first quarter of 2023. This comes after the agency reported in March 2021 that Nigeria’s jobless rate increased to 33.3%, or around 23.2 million people. It is the highest percentage in at least 13 years and the second-highest rate in the world.
The figure increased from 27.1% in the second quarter of 2020. That marked a point when Nigeria’s persistent economic crisis was rendered worse by the coronavirus outbreak. Since then, the economy entered a recession in 2016, the country’s unemployment rate has more than quadrupled.
In April 2021, then Nigeria’s Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, claimed that the World Bank questioned the methodology employed by the NBS to generate its employment statistics.
He added that he had on several occasions queried the employment statistics released by the NBS.
The new data released on Thursday by the NBS is believed to have been compiled using an enhanced methodology. This involves collecting labour market data through the Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS) in line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) guidelines.
The Nigerian agency explained that the data collection for the revised NLFS is based on a sample of 35,520 households nationwide. The bureau adds, “It is conducted continuously throughout the year, with national-level results produced quarterly and state-level results at the end of a full year.”