?First-of-its-kind, conducted in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) guidelines

By JEPH ADE

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has today published the 2023 Annual and Q1 2024 Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS). The nation?s apex statistical institution says the reports provide a comprehensive picture of Nigeria?s labour market performance for the full year 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, offering vital insights into key labour market indicators.

?The release of the 2023 annual report marks the first-of-its-kind, conducted in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) guidelines between the 4thQuarter of 2022 and the 3rdQuarter of 2023. The findings offer detailed state-level data on critical labour market indicators such as unemployment, underemployment, wage employment, informal employment, and youth participation in education, employment, or training,? says a statement on the report signed by Mr. Sunday Ichedi, Director of Communications and Public Relations.

Highlights of the 2023 Annual Report of the NLFS focused on working-age population, labour force participation rate, employed population, employment-to-population ratio, informal employment, unemployment rate, unemployment by educational status, time-related underemployment, and youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET rate).

NBS says in the report: ?The working-age population in the year 2023 was 116.6 million, representing 53.8 per cent of the total population. Women accounted for 52 per cent of this population, with men at 48 per cent.

?The annual Labour Force Participation rate was 76.3 per cent, equivalent to 88.9 million individuals. Bauchi State recorded the highest participation rate at 92.3 per cent, while Ekiti State had the lowest at 63.4 per cent.

?Of the total working-age population in 2023, 84.1 million individuals were employed, including 20.6 million persons between the ages of 15 and 24.

?In 2023, the national employment-to-population ratio was 72.2 per cent, with rural areas (77.3 per cent), significantly outperforming urban areas (68.7 per cent). Bauchi State had the highest employment-to-population ratio at 88.4 per cent, while Rivers State recorded the lowest at 55.7 per cent. By sex, the EPR was 73.7 per cent for males and 70.7 per cent for females.

?In 2023, 77.6 million individuals, were engaged in informal employment, accounting for 92.2 per cent of the employed population. Kano State had the highest number of informal workers, with about 5.2 million individuals engaged in informal employment, followed by Lagos State with 4.6 million people (excluding agriculture).?

It adds: ?The headline unemployment rate at the national level was 5.4 per cent in 2023. At the state level, Abia recorded the highest unemployment rate at 18.7 per cent, while Nasarawa had the lowest at 0.5 per cent.

?In terms of educational attainment, the unemployment rate was highest at 9.4 per cent among persons with post-secondary education. This was followed by those with secondary education at 6.7 per cent, and those with primary education at 4.1 per cent. The rate was lowest for those with no formal qualification at 3.2 per cent.

?National time-related underemployment stood at 11.1 per cent, with 8.3 per cent for men and 13.4 per cent for women. Plateau State had the highest time-related underemployment at 33.9 per cent, while Nasarawa recorded the lowest at 0.3 per cent.

The Youth NEET rate was 15.6 per cent, with Abia State recording the highest NEET rate at 38.1per cent and Zamfara State the lowest at 4.5 per cent?.

Highlights of Q1 2024 Labour Force Survey were also on labour force participation rate, employment-to-population ratio, wage employment, unemployment rate, unemployment by educational status, youth unemployment, time-related underemployment, youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET rate), and number of hours worked.

The Report shows: ?In Q1 2024, the labour force participation rate among the working-age population declined to 77.3 per cent in Q1 2024, from 79.5 per cent in Q3 2023.

?The employment-to-population ratio was 73.2 per cent in Q1 2024. This is a decrease of 2.4 percentage points compared to a ratio of 75.6 per cent in Q3 2023.

The ratio In urban areas was 69.5 per cent and 78.9 per cent in rural areas in Q1 2024. This is a decrease in the ratio compared to the 71.1 per cent and 80.7 per cent in Q3 2023, respectively.

?The proportion of workers in wage employment rose to 16.0 per cent in Q1 2024, a 3.3 percentage point increase from 12.7 per cent in Q3 2023. By gender, 20.1 per cent of males were in wage employment, compared to 12.1 per cent of females. Wage employment was also higher in urban areas, at 21.8 per cent than in rural areas, where it stood at 8.1 per cent.

?The unemployment rate increased to 5.3 per cent in Q1 2024, from 5.0 per cent in Q3 2023. By place of residence, the rate was 6.0 per cent in urban areas and 4.3 per cent in rural areas for Q1 2024.

?Unemployment based on educational attainment shows that the unemployment rate among persons with post-graduate education was 2.0 per cent, 9.0% among those with post-secondary education, 6.9 per cent for those with secondary education, and 4.0 per cent among those with primary education in Q1 2024.??

It further indicates: ?The unemployment rate among youth aged (15-24 years) was 8.4 per cent in Q1 2024, a decrease of 0.2 per cent compared to Q3 2023 (8.6 per cent).

?Time-related underemployment in Q1 2024 was 10.6 per cent, showing a decrease of 1.7 per cent from the rate of 12.3 per cent recorded in Q3 2023.

?The percentage of youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET rate) was 14.4 per cent in Q1 2024, showing a 0.7 percentage point increase from 13.7 per cent in Q3 2023. The results also showed a higher NEET rate among females at 15.9 per cent, compared to 13.0 per cent for males in Q3 2023, while nationally, 1.5 per cent of employed Nigerians spent between 1-9 hours in a week, 4.8 per cent spent between 10-19 hours in a week, approximately 25 per cent worked between 20-39 hours, 22 per cent between 40-48 hours, and the 46 per cent worked 48hours and above in a week.

Both reports, with further details and insights, the statement says, are available on the NBS website atwww.nigerianstat.gov.ng, adding the microdata from the survey will also be published and accessible through the National Data Archive (NADA) on the NBS website.