Nigeria’s jobless rate falls to 4.1% in Q1 2023, according to NBS

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the unemployment rate in Nigeria decreased from 5.3 percent in the previous quarter to 4.1 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023.

In the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020, the agency estimated that the nation’s unemployment rate was 33.3 percent.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the NBS claimed that the most recent unemployment report used a new methodology and provided a thorough examination of the labour market.

Using the 13th ICLS, which was created and approved in 1982 at the International Conference of Labour Statisticians, the most recent survey was carried out, claims NBS.

Semiu Adeniran, Chief Executive Officer of NBS, said that the new number aligns Nigeria’s Labour Survey with international standards during his remarks during the Thursday launch of the new methodology in Abuja.

He said that the poll was carried out in conjunction with the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation and that 26 African nations had also embraced it.

The fourth quarter of 2022 saw a figure of 5.3%, he noted.

Adeniran stressed that the new figure was not to give the new government a good face but to bring up the method used to conduct labour surveys in the country. The new methodology considered employed persons as those who engaged in at least one hour of work during the last seven days the survey was conducted.