Nigeria ranks third in global unemployment rate

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has been ranked third on a list of countries with the highest unemployment rate globally.

The country’s unemployment rate hit a new record high at 33.3 per cent in fourth quarter (Q4) 2020 from 27.1 recorded in second quarter (Q2) 2020.

According to the Q4 unemployment report released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, a total of 23.18 million persons in Nigeria either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours a week, making them unemployed during the fourth quarter (Q4) 2020.

NBS noted that the underemployment rate decreased from 28.6 per cent to 22.8 per cent, while a combination of both the unemployment and underemployment rate for the reference period gave a figure of 56.1 per cent.

According to StatiSense, a data technology company, Bosnia and Herz, with 33.7 per cent, topped the list of countries with highest unemployment rate globally.

The country is followed by Namibia with 33.4 per cent, Nigeria, 33.3 per cent, and South Africa with 32.5 per cent.

This is followed by Angola, Mozambique, Kosovo, Jordan, Lesotho, Palestine and Swaziland.

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According to the NBS Q4 report, Imo state recorded the highest rate of unemployment in Nigeria with 56.64 per cent.

This was followed by Adamawa with 54.89 per cent and Cross Rivers state with 53.65 per cent.

The states with the lowest rates were Osun, Benue and Zamfara states with 11.65 per cent, 11.98 per cent and 12.99 per cent respectively.