One in every two Nigerians in the country’s labor force is either unemployed or underemployed.
That grim stat was one of the key highlights of the latest unemployment report published by Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics, which shows the most recent data as of Q2 2020.
While Nigeria’s unemployment rate has climbed to 27.1% (up from 23.1% in Q3 2018, when the unemployment report was last published), the country’s underemployment rate—which reflects those working less than 40 hours a week, or in jobs that underutilize a person’s skills, time, or education—has increased to 28.6%.
Nigeria is expected to grow to over 440 million people by 2050, becoming the third most populated country in the world. Nigerians unemployment crisis is one of the main problems facing the country, well above poverty; the lack of job opportunities is specifically concerning for young people (World Bank, 2016).
Nigerians do not “generally lack the skills or education to work, nor are idle by choice” but “the provision of opportunities to work is the main challenge.” There is a need for new and more effective demand-oriented policies that generates livelihood opportunities to sustainably address un/underemployment in Nigeria, rather than focusing on supply-side interventions and further skilling up the work force.