Nigeria’s unemployment rate climbed to 5.3% in the first quarter of 2024, according to the latest Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday. This marks an increase from the 5.0% recorded in Q3 2023.
The report also revealed a decline in the labour force participation rate among the working-age population, dropping from 79.5% in Q3 2023 to 77.3% in Q1 2024. Additionally, the employment-to-population ratio fell to 73.2%, down from 75.6% in the previous quarter.
Despite the rise in unemployment, the combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment (LU2) saw an improvement, decreasing to 15.3% in Q1 2024 from 17.3% in Q3 2023.
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The survey highlighted a 3.3 percentage point increase in wage employment, with 16% of workers engaged in wage jobs in Q1 2024, compared to 12.7% in Q3 2023. However, the unemployment rate for individuals with post-secondary education remained high at 9%.
Youth unemployment, particularly for those aged 15-24, saw a slight improvement, falling to 8.4% in Q1 2024 from 8.6% in Q3 2023. In urban areas, the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.0%.
The report also noted that time-related underemployment decreased to 10.6%, a 1.7% drop from 12.3% in Q3 2023. Meanwhile, 4.5% of the working-age population was engaged in subsistence agriculture during the first quarter of 2024.
The percentage of youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET) rose slightly to 14.4%, indicating a 0.7 percentage point increase from the previous quarter.
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