The National Bureau of Statistics has finally released data on the nation’s unemployment rate after an 20-month interval, saying the unemployment rate rose to 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 from the 23.1 per cent recorded in Q3 2018.
The NBS, in its ‘Labor Force Statistics: Unemployment and Underemployment Report’ released on Friday, said underemployment rate increased from 20.1 per cent in Q3 2018 to 28.6 per cent in Q2 2020.
It said, “For the period under review, Q2 2020, the unemployment rate among young people (15-34 years) was 34.9 per cent, up from 29.7 per cent, while the rate of underemployment for the same age group rose to 28.2 per cent from 25.7 per cent in Q3 2018.
“These rates were the highest when compared to other age groupings.”
The NBS said the number of persons in the economically active or working age population (15 – 64 years of age) increased to 116,871,186 from 115,492,969 in Q3 2018.
