The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released data showing that no fewer than 23.18 million Nigerians either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours a week, making them unemployed during Q4 2020.
In percentage terms, the agency said unemployment rate rose to 33.3 per cent in Q4 2020 compared to 27.1 per cent recorded in Q2
It also disclosed that during the period, while the underemployment rate decreased from 28.6 per cent to 22.8 per cent, a combination of both the unemployment and under-employment rate for the reference period stood at 56.1 per cent.
“In the case of unemployment by state, Imo State recorded the highest rate of unemployment with 56.64 percent. This was followed by Adamawa with 54.89 percent and Cross Rivers State with 53.65 percent. The States with the lowest rates were Osun, Benue and Zamfara States with 11.65 percent, 11.98 percent and 12.99 percent respectively.
“In the case of underemployment, Benue State recorded the highest rate with 43.52%, followed by Zamfara and Jigawa States with 41.73% and 41.29% respectively,” the report said.
“Combining both unemployment and underemployment, the state that recorded the highest rate was Imo with 82.5% followed by Jigawa with 80%. Ogun and Sokoto states recorded the lowest of the combined rates, 26.2% and 33.7% respectively,” said the NBS.
