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Nigeria’s unemployment rate increased to 5 percent in the third quarter of 2023 from 4,2 recorded in the second quarter of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

This information was disclosed in the Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS) report for the third quarter of 2023, released on Monday. Per the NBS, this rate represents a 0,8 percent increase from the second quarter of 2023, where the unemployment rate stood at 4,2 percent.

The unemployment rate among men was 4,0 percent and 6,0 among women. By location, the unemployment rate was 6.0 percent in urban areas and 4,0 percent in rural areas. Focusing on young people, the youth unemployment rate was 8,6 percent.

In the third quarter of 2023, 75,6 percent of Nigeria’s working-age population were employed. When examining the data by gender, the employment-to-population ratio was 77,7 percent for males and 73,5 percent for females.

Further disaggregation by location revealed an employment-to-population ratio of 71.1 percent in urban areas and 80.7 percent in rural areas.

The report noted that 87,3 percent of employed Nigerians were predominantly self-employed, while the remaining 12,7 percent were primarily engaged as employees. 80,3 percent of employed people in urban areas were self-employed; this is lower when compared with 94,5 percent of employed people in rural areas.