Why Rivers, A’Ibom, Kano, Kano, Lagos, Kaduna top list of states with jobless Nigerians ― NBS

Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Kano, Lagos and Kaduna are the states with the highest number of unemployed citizens among their 36 peers and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by the end of September 2018.

On the other hand, Lagos, Rivers, Imo, Ondo, Enugu and Kaduna produced the highest numbers of employment in the second quarter of 2018.

According to a disaggregation of unemployment and underemployment statistics earlier released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Rivers has 1,673,991 unemployed people, Akwa Ibom- 1,357,754, Kano- 1,257,130, Lagos- 1,088,352 and Kaduna -940,480.

The five states account for 6,317,707 of the total 18.0 total unemployed Nigerians.

In the Unemployment and Underemployment Report Q1 to Q3, 2017 released late in 2018, NBS said “total number of people in full-time employment (at least 40 hours a week) declined from 52.7 million in Q2 2017 to 51.1 million in Q3 2017 (a loss in full time employed workers may not necessarily be due to job losses.

“The number of people within the labour force who are unemployed or underemployed increased from 13.6 million and 17.7 million respectively in Q2 2017, to 15.9 million and 18.0 million in Q3 2017.

“Total unemployment and underemployment combined increased from 37.2 per cent in the previous quarter to 40.0 per cent in Q3 2017,” NBS had said.

In terms of percentage, however, Akwa Ibom State reported the highest unemployment rate of 37.7 per cent, followed by Rivers State with 36.4 per cent, Bayelsa State 32.6 per cent, Abia 31.6 per cent and Borno State with 31.4 per cent during the period under review.

Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, and Yobe, recorded the highest underemployment rates during the reviewing period, of 39.5 per cent, 38.1 per cent, 31.0 per cent and 30.0 per cent respectively.

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National unemployment rate for the quarter was 23.1 per cent, while the underemployment rate was 20.1 per cent.

The six states that recorded the highest gains in net full-time employment between Q3 2017 and Q2 2018 include Lagos adding 740,146 net full-time jobs, Rivers – 235,438, Imo – 197,147, Ondo – 142,514, Enugu – 122,333 and Kaduna – 118,929.

Between Q3 2017 and Q3 2018, only nine states recorded a reduction in their unemployment rates despite an increase in the national unemployment rate.

They include Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ondo and Rivers. The same states recorded a reduction in their combined unemployment and underemployment rates.

In Q3 2018, Akwa Ibom State reported the highest unemployment rate (37.7 per cent), followed by Rivers State with (36.4 per cent), Bayelsa State (32.6 per cent), Abia (31.6 per cent) and Borno State (31.4 per cent).

Regions with the highest rates of unemployment were the NorthEast, North-Central and the North-West states in the third quarter of 2018.

“Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Yobe and Niger states recorded the highest underemployment rates during the reviewing period, with 39.5 per cent, 38.1 per cent, 31.0 per cent, 30.0 per cent, and 26.9 per cent respectively.

Although South West states reported relatively low underemployment rates, the state with the lowest underemployment rate was Taraba state with 9.0 per cent.

“When combining both unemployment rate and underemployment rate, Jigawa, Yobe, Rivers, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Borno, and Kano reported highest unemployed and underemployed rates in the third quarter of 2018, of 64.6 percent, 58.9 percent, 58.1 percent, 57.8 percent, 57.8 percent, 56.9 percent and 55.5 percent respectively.

“While Rivers, Kano, Akwa-Ibom, Kaduna, Lagos, Borno, and Imo reported the highest numbers of combined unemployment and underemployment population, altogether accounting for 35.2 per cent of the total unemployed and underemployed population in Nigeria.”

NBS however, noted that states with a higher propensity for women to be housewives or stay home husbands or that have negative attitudes to working tend to have lower unemployment rates, as they are not considered part of the labour force in the first place, and as such have no bearing on the rate of unemployment.

“Such States tend to have a higher proportion of their economically active populations (those aged 15 – 64) outside the labour force, thereby reducing the number available and looking for work, and the number that can be unemployed or underemployed.”