Job creation in Nigeria drops by 70% in Q2

Job creation in Nigeria has dropped drastically, with a decline of 69.9 percent in the second quarter of 2015.

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its second quarter report, released on Tuesday revealed that just 141,368 jobs were created in Africa’s largest economy, contrasting the nation’s first quarter reports.

“In the second quarter of 2015, the total number of jobs created in the economy was 141,368 jobs, this is a decline of 69.9 percent (327,702) over the number of jobs in the preceding quarter and 45.5 percent less than the total number of jobs recorded in the same period of 2014,” the bureau said.

The jobs informal sector created the highest number of jobs, with public institutions creating the least.

“In the formal sector, 51,070 new jobs were generated, representing 36.1percent of total jobs generated in the second quarter of 2015.

“This is a decline of 61.6percent (79,871) jobs when compared to the first quarter of 2015 and a 35.2percent decline when compared to the same period in 2014.

“In the public sector of the economy, there was a 11.7 percent (669) increase in the number of jobs created making 6,395 new jobs generated in the public sector in the 2nd quarter of 2015, the jobs generated in the public sector represents 4.5 percent of the total jobs generated during the reference period.”

“Under informal jobs, which typically consists of jobs generated by individuals or businesses employing less than 10 or those businesses operating with little or no structures e.g. those in Agriculture and Wholesale and Retail Trade.

“In the second quarter of 2015, an estimates 83,903 new jobs were created in this sector, compared to 332,403 new jobs in the 1st quarter of 2015; this signifies a 74.8 percent decrease between the two periods.”

Business experts blamed the low job creation profile on the economic uncertainty, which followed immediately after the 2015 general election.