More Women Jobless in Nigeria than Men—Report

By Dipo Olowookere

Figures have shown that unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria were higher for women than men in the fourth quarter of last year.

In the Unemployment and Under-employment Rate by Gender subsection of a report released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in the period under review, 16.3 percent of women in the labour force (those between 15 – 65 willing, able and actively working or searching for work) were unemployed in Q4 2016, and a further 24.2 percent of women in the labour force were underemployed.

On the other hand, 12.3 percent of males were unemployed in Q4 2016, while a further 17.9 percent of males in the labour force were underemployed during the same period.

The report, titled ‘Q4 2016 unemployment report,’ also said underemployment continues to be predominant in rural areas, revealing that 25.8 percent of rural residents were underemployed compared to 10.5 percent urban of residents.

Given that the nature of rural jobs is largely menial and unskilled, such as in agriculture and the likes, unemployment is more of a concern in urban areas where more skilled labour is required, the NBS noted in the report.

The unemployment rate in the urban areas was 18.4 percent compared to 12.3 percent in the rural areas, as the preference is more for formal white-collar jobs, which are located mostly in urban centres.

In addition, the employment situation in Nigeria largely mirrored recent global trends. At the close of the year (2016) the expansion of the global economy was too weak to close the significant employment gap that have emerged since the beginning of the global economic crisis in 2008.

Over 200 million people were estimated to be unemployed in the world in 2016, and the projections are for a further increase in global unemployment by more than 3 million people over the next two years.

The highest unemployment rate in the world is recorded in Djibouti (54 percent), Congo (46.1 percent), Bosnia and Herzegovinian (40.1 percent), Afghanistan (40 percent) and Kenya (40 percent) while the lowest are found in Qatar (0.2 percent), Cambodia (0.5 percent), Belarus (1 percent), Benin (1.0 percent), Thailand (1.2 percent), Madagascar (1.2 percent) Laos (1.4 percent) and Guinea (1.7 percent).