Nigeria In Worst Economic Recession In 29yrs As 4.58m Nigerians Become Jobless Under Buhari – Nbs

Source: thewillnigeria.com

SAN FRANCISCO, August 31, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS, on Wednesday confirmed that Nigeria is in its worst economic recession in 29 years, even as it noted that the total number of Nigerians who became unemployed within the first and second quarter of 2016 now stands at 2.6 million.

According to the bureau, about 1.46 million Nigerians became unemployed in the third quarter of 2015, while another 518,102 were out of job in the fourth quarter of last year.

This brings the total of freshly unemployed persons in the economy to a record high of 4,580,602, since May 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn into office.

In the NBS Gross Domestic Product, GDP report for the second quarter of 2016, the bureau revealed that Nigeria's economy contracted by 2.06 percent to record its lowest growth rate in three decades. It held that the economy shrank by 0.36 percent in the first quarter of 2016 to hit its lowest point in 25 years.

In its second quarter unemployment and underemployment report also released on Wednesday, NBS said the country's unemployment rate grew from 12.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016 to a record high of 13.3 percent in the second.

The report reads, “During the reference period, the number of unemployed in the labour force increased by 1,158,700 persons, resulting in an increase in the national unemployment rate to 13.3% in Q2 2016 from 12.1 in Q1 2016, 10.4% in Q4 2015 from 9.9% in Q3 2015 and from 8.2% in Q2 2015,” NBS said.

“In view of this, there were a total of 26.06 million persons in the Nigerian labour force in Q2 2016, that were either unemployed or underemployed compared to compared to 24.5 million in Q1 2016 and 22.6 million in Q4 2015.”

It added that the economically active population or working age population (persons within ages 15- 64) increased from 106million in Q1 2016 to 106.69 million in Q2 2016.

Underemployment in the economy was also on the rise, with 15.4 million Nigerians said to be underemployed.

“The number of underemployed in the labour force (those working but doing menial jobs not commensurate with their qualifications or those not engaged in full-time work and merely working for few hours) increased by 392,390 or 2.61%, resulting in an increase in the underemployment rate to 19.3 % (15.4million persons) in Q2 2016 from 19.1% (15,02 million persons) in Q1 2016, 18.7% (14.42 million persons) in Q4 2015, from 17.4% (13.2 million persons) in Q3 2015 and 18.3% (13.5 million persons) in Q2 2015,” read a part of the report.