The rate of unemployment in Nigeria has leaped to 9.9 per cent in the third quarter of this year from the 8.2 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2015.
A report released recently in Abuja by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the number of unemployed in the labour force, jumped by 1,454,620 in the third quarter, up from 529,923 recorded in the second quarter of the year.
Before the latest rise in the nation’s unemployment rate, the figure had climbed to 8.2 per cent in the second quarter of this year from the 7.5 per cent recorded at the first quarter of the year, and this represents a fourth consecutive rise in the unemployment rate since the third quarter of last year.
The NBS also reported that the number of underemployed in the labour force, being those working but doing largely menial work or jobs not commensurate with their qualifications or not fully engaged and merely working for few hours, during the review quarter dropped by 365,593.
The drop resulted in a decrease in the underemployment rate to 17.4 per cent in the period from 18.3 per cent recorded in the last quarter.
The report also revealed that the total number in full time employment, being the people who did any form of work for at least 40 hours, increased by 840,773 or 1.52% from the record of the second quarter of this year.
