1.9 million Nigerians join labour market – NBS

Posted by admin Headlines Sunday, November 22nd, 2015

The National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday released the unemployment watch report for the third quarter of 2015, stating that a total of 1,929,800 economically active persons within the age bracket of 15 years to 64 years joined the labour force.

The unemployment watch is one of the three reports, which the bureau released on Sunday. The other two are the job creation survey, and the labour productivity report.

In the unemployment watch, the bureau said the entry of the 1,929,800 active persons into the job market in the third quarter had resulted in an increase of 2.6 per cent in the labour force from 74 million to 75.9 million.

It stated that the new entrants to the labour market consisted of newly- qualified graduates, and those who chose not to work for undisclosed reasons in earlier periods.

The report stated, “In Q3 2015, the labour force population (that is those within the working age population willing, able and actively looking for work) increased to 75.9 million from 74 million in Q2 2015, representing an increase in the labour force by 2.60 per cent.

“This means 1,929,800 economically active persons within 15-64 entered the labour force.”

In the job creation survey for the third quarter of 2015, the bureau stated that a total of 475,180 jobs were created during the period.

The figure, according to the bureau, is an increase of 236.1 per cent (333,812 jobs) over the 141,368 jobs created in the second quarter.

The report stated that the increase in the number of jobs in the third quarter was driven mainly by the informal sector, which accounted for 90.2 per cent (428,690) of the total .

It was followed by formal sector jobs, which accounted for 8.8 per cent (41,672) of jobs in the third quarter, while the public sector generated 4,818 jobs, representing 1.01 per cent of jobs created in the quarter under review.

The report added that in the informal sector, which typically consists of jobs in individual or household businesses employing less than 10 and operating with little or no structures, the jobs generated in the agriculture, manufacturing and trade businesses accounted for about 90 per cent of total jobs in the third quarter.

For instance, the report stated that over 70 per cent of the informal sector jobs created in Q3 2015 were related to rural agriculture due to the beginning of the farming season as rural and subsistence farmers became fully engaged on their farms.

Historically, according to the report, the third quarter of the year usually coincides with the planting season in Nigeria and has recorded higher number of jobs when compared to other quarters, since farmers employ more hands to assist them.

It said growth in labour productivity in the third quarter was slower than in the second quarter where labour productivity grew by 9.1 per cent between the first quarter and second quarter.

-Punch

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