Nigeria’s unemployment rate increased significantly in the third quarter of 2023, rising by 0.8% from Q2 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

In its ‘Nigeria Labour Force Survey Q3 2023’ report published on Monday, the NBS said the country’s unemployment rate rose sharply from the 4.2% recorded in Q2 2023 to 5.0% in Q3 2023.

The NBS said the labour force participation rate among the working-age population declined to 79.5% in Q3 2023 compared to 80.4% in Q2 2023.

Giving a breakdown of the statistics, the Bureau said, “The employment-to-population ratio was 75.6% in Q3 2023 with a decrease of 1.5% compared to a ratio of Q2 2023. “The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment as a share of the labour force population (LU2) increased to 17.3% in Q3 2023 from 15.5% in Q2 2023.

About 87.3% of workers were self-employed in Q3 2023. The unemployment rate increased significantly in Q3 2023 at 5.0%.