NBS reveals shocking figures of how many Nigerians are unemployed

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Indications have emerged that 48.7 percent representing about 77 million Nigerians are unemployed and active in the labour market.

According to the data on the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) website, ages 15-24 were either unemployed or underemployed in the second quarter of 2015 compared to 44.3 percent in the first quarter of the same year.

Meanwhile, another 28.4 percent ages 25-34 were either unemployed or underemployed in the second quarter of the year compared to 25.9 percent in first quarter of the same year, making it a sum of 77.1million Nigerians.

NBS also revealed that the number of underemployed in the labour market during the review quarter has increased by 1,362,274 or 11.16 percent resulting in an increase in the underemployment rate to 18.3 percent (13.5m) in second quarter of 2015, from 16.6 percent (12.2mn) in first quarter of 2015.

In the same vein, the number of unemployed in the labour force increased by 529,923 persons or 9.58 percent between quarter one 2015 and the second quarter of the same year, resulting in an increase in the unemployment rate to 8.2 percent in the second quarter of 2015 from 7.5 percent in first quarter of 2015.

The data represents a third consecutive rise in the unemployment rate since third quarter of 2014. Accordingly, there were a total of 19.6 million people between ages 15-65 either unemployed or underemployed in the labour market in second quarter of 2015, compared to 17.7 million in the first quarter of 2015.

Unemployment and underemployment was highest for persons in the labour market between the ages of 15-24 and 25-34 which represents the youth population in the labour market.

It will be recalled that the unemployment rate within the review period was highest for those within the ages of 15-24 (14.9 per cent in quarter one of 2015, up from 13.7 per cent in quarter one of 2014), while the underemployment rate for those within the ages 15-24 rose to 33.8 per cent from 30.6 per cent in quarter one of 2015.

For those in the labour market within the ages of 25-34 however, unemployment rose to 8.9 per cent in second quarter of 2015 from 8.2 per cent in quarter one of 2015 and 6.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2014, while underemployment stood at 19.5 per cent from 17.7 per cent in first quarter of 2015 and 19.0 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2014.

While 9.6 per cent of women in the labour market (those between 15-65 willing, able and actively working or searching for work) were unemployed in the second quarter of 2015, another 21.6 per cent of women in the labour force were underemployed in the second quarter of 2015.

On the other hand, 6.9 per cent of males were unemployed in the second quarter of 2015, while another 15.4 per cent of males in the labour market were underemployed.