Nigeria: NBS records 21.8 million unemployed people due to COVID-19 crisis

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has recorded that unemployed people in Nigeria has spiked to 21.8 million following the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the private sector, according to a news report by Daily Nation.

NBS has put the figure of unemployed Nigerians at 21,764,617 as at the end of June as the country's COVID-19 cases almost hit 50,000.

Many private firms have rationalized their workforce and service industries have given up their sprawling office spaces and directed staff to work from home.

The statistics on the employment situation are contained in NBS' Labour Force Statistics website, entitled "Unemployment and Underemployment Report (Q2 2020)" released in Abuja on August 15.

The unemployment rate during the period in reference represented a 27.1 percent rise from the 23.1 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2018.

"A rise in unemployment generally means the number of people searching for jobs has increased, which can occur because people previously outside the labor force have decided to join the labor force and are now in search of jobs," the NBS said.

"Or people previously working have lost their jobs and are now in search of jobs. Often, it is a combination of these two," it added.