The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has stated that 76.7 per cent of Nigerians are employed in the first quarter of 2023.
The bureau, which stated that it arrived at the figure using a new methodology, also said Nigeria’s unemployment figure dropped to 4.1% during the quarter from the 33.3% recorded in the Q4 of 2020.
Speaking during the launch of the methodology of the Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS), the Statistician General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, said the drop was due to the new methodology considering employed persons as those who engaged in at least one hour of work during the last seven days the survey was conducted.
This is a departure from the 20 hours used in the old methodology, the 13th ICLS, which was birthed and adopted in 1982 at the International Conference of Labour Statisticians.
Adeniran said the new figure brings Nigeria’s Labour Survey in tandem with the international standard which is equally used by Niger, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana and other African countries.
He stressed that the new figure was not to give the new government a good face but to bring up the method used to conduct labour surveys in the country.
The old method defined those that are in the labour force to be from 15-64 years old but the new method views it to be 15 and above that are willing, available, and able when the survey is conducted.
Peoplesmind