In the second quarter of 2024, unemployment rate fell to 4.3% from the 5.3% recorded in the first quarter of 2024.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Statistician General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran revealed this on Sunday, November 24, 2024, in a press statement on "Q2 2024 Nigerian Labour Force Survey (NLFS).

He said: “The unemployment rate during the period was 4.3 per cent, which shows a decrease compared to the rate recorded in Q1 2024 (5.3 per cent).”

He added that the unemployment rate among persons with upper-secondary education was 8.5 per cent in Q2 2024, while the unemployment rate among youths aged (15-24 and 25-34 years) in Q2 2024 was 6.5 per cent each and the highest.

He continued that urban unemployment was 5.2 percent in Q2 2024, compared with 6 percent in Q1 2024, while unemployment in the rural areas was 2.8 per cent, down from the 4.3 percent recorded in Q1 2024.

Adeniran said the share of those in wage employment was 14.4 percent in Q2 2024, a marginal decrease from the 16 per cent recorded in Q1 2024.

He said the rate of informal employment, which is the share of employed persons working in the informal sector and informal employment (including agriculture) in Q2 2024 was 93.0 per cent, a slight increase from the rate reported in Q1 2024, 92.7 per cent.

He said the rate of informal employment among people living in rural areas, said the NBS boss, was 97.5 per cent while the urban informal employment was estimated at 90 per cent.

He said the Time-related underemployment rate which is the share of employed people working less than 40 hours per week and declaring themselves willing and available to do more hours of work in Q2 2024 was 9.2 percent.

This, according to him, indicates a decline compared to the rate recorded in Q1 2024, which was 10.6 per cent.

He said the survey also collected information on the proportion of Youths aged (15-24 years) who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET).

The NEET rate for the reference quarter was estimated to be 12.5 per cent, a decrease from 14.4 per cent recorded in Q1 of 2024.

The Statistician General of the Federation said the labour force participation rate stood at 79.5 per cent in Q2 2024, higher than the participation rate recorded in Q1 2024 (77.3 per cent).

He said the participation rate of men in the labour force under the reviewed period stood at 79.9 per cent while for women records stood at 79.1 per cent.