The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the producer and custodian of the nation’s official statistics, has put unemployment rate in the urban areas of the country at 10.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year.
The rate indicated about 2.3 percentage points higher than the 8.8 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter and 3.6 percentage points higher than the rate in Q4, 2014.
The Bureau also reported in its latest that during the review period, unemployment rate in the rural areas stood at 7.4 per cent, the same rate of underemployment in the urban areas. Underemployment rate in the rural areas was 22.1 per cent during the April- June review quarter.
NBS stated further: “Underemployment continues to be more of an rural phenomenon (22.1% rural underemployment compared to 7.4% rural unemployment) given the nature of their jobs largely as seasonal farmers, unemployment is more of a concern in urban areas (10.1% urban unemployment compared to 7.4% urban underemployment) given the preference of graduates to search for formal white collar jobs located mostly in urban centres.”
On the general unemployment and underemployment rates, the statistics producing agency, stated in its Unemployment/Underemployment Watch for the second quarter of this year published on August 2, that the country’s unemployment rate rose to 8.2 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of this year up from the 7.5 per cent rate recorded in the preceding quarter, representing a third consecutive rise in unemployment rate since Q3, 2014.
It also stated that the economically active population or working age population, that is persons within ages 15 64, increased to 103.5 million in the second quarter (Q2), up from 102.8 million in the first quarter.
Expatiating further, the Bureau reported that the labour force population, comprising those within the working age population willing, able and actively looking for work, increased to 74.0 million in Q2 from 73.4 million in Q1, indicating an increase in the labour force by 0.81 per cent.
The NBS stated that within the same period, the total number in full employment, or those did something for at least 40 hours weekly decreased by 1,317,700 or -2.37 per cent.
