7.5 million Nigerians were unemployed in 2017 shows NBS

diamond hope

January 22, 2018 10:55 AM

7.5 million Nigerians spent 2017 doing absolutely nothing at all due to unemployment.

On Sunday, January 21, 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated in a report called "Labour Force Statistics Vol. 2: Employment by Sector Report" that 7.5 million Nigerians were unemployed between January 2016 and December 2017.

The NBS stated that out of the country’s labor population of 85.1 million, 77.55 million are engaged in some sort of economic activity for at least an hour a week. While about 7.53 million were doing absolutely nothing.

"A total of 19.72 million were working for pay or wage, which was equivalent to 25.42% of the total workers in 2017 Q3. Paid apprentices and unpaid house workers constituted 7.30% and 1.11% of the total working force engaged for at last one hour a week."

The NBS also reported that among the 77.55 million labor population who were engaged in some extent of economic activity, 29.66 million were self-employed engaged in farming/agriculture, and 21.66 million were self-employed in non- farming/agriculture sectors.

"The absolute number of male full-time workers was more than twice the number of female full-time workers in the third quarter of 2017. A larger percentage of males to females was self-employed in farming/agriculture work, while a larger percentage of females were self-employed in non-farming/agriculture work. Agriculture dominated both female and male labor markets."

It also stated further that more than half of the total workers in Nigeria (51.06 million or 65.84% of total) worked full-time, or 40 hours per week.

It added that Mining and Quarrying, Information and Communication, and Real Estate contributed to sizable shares of nominal GDP (11.17%, 8.69%, and 7.52% respectively) in 2017 Q3, while they only provided limited employment (0.17%, 0.55%, and 0.09% respectively).

The bureau stated further that males worked full-time than female, while a higher percentage of female worked part-time between 20-39 hours and below 20 hours per week.