The latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics released on Monday, revealed that Nigeria’s unemployment rate hit a new record high at 33.3 per cent in fourth quarter (Q4) 2020 from 27.1 recorded in second quarter (Q2) 2020.
The 33.3 per cent translates to 23.19 million unemployed people (either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours a week) in the country.
The NBS stated in its report on ‘Labour force Statistics: Unemployment and underemployment report- Abridged labour force survey under COVID-19 (Q4, 2020).’
A break down of the rate of unemployment state by state revealed that Imo ranked highest with 82.5% of its population either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours a week.
Imo is closely followed by Jigawa with 80% unemployment rate in the state.
“In the case of unemployment by state, Imo State recorded the highest rate of unemployment with 56.64%. This was followed by Adamawa with 54.89% and Cross Rivers State with 53.65%. The States with the lowest rates were Osun, Benue and Zamfara States with 11.65%, 11.98% and 12.99% respectively.
“In the case of underemployment, Benue State recorded the highest rate with 43.52%, followed by Zamfara and Jigawa States with 41.73% and 41.29% respectively,” the report said.
“Combining both unemployment and underemployment, the state that recorded the highest rate was Imo with 82.5% followed by Jigawa with 80%. Ogun and Sokoto states recorded the lowest of the combined rates, 26.2% and 33.7% respectively.”