NBS says Economy Created 2.5m Jobs in Two Years

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday said the Nigerian economy created a total of 2.48 million new jobs between July 2012 and June this year.

Dr. Yemi Kale, statistician general for the Federation and chief executive of the NBS, gave the figure in Abuja while speaking at a workshop on the review of definition and methodology for computing unemployment statistics in Nigeria.

A breakdown of the figure revealed that the highest number of jobs was created in the informal sector with 1.41 million, while the formal sector with 903,804 jobs and public institutions with 160,591 jobs followed respectively.

Further analysis of the jobs created in the economy revealed that 427,296 and 385,913 jobs were created in the third and fourth quarters of 2012.

For the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2013, the bureau put the new jobs created at 431,021; 221,054; 245,989 and 265,702 respectively.

In the first and second quarters of this year, it said 240,871 and 259,353 new jobs were created respectively in various sectors of the economy.

Kale, while giving more details on the jobs created within the first quarter of this year said, “In the first quarter of 2014, the formal sector recorded 76,018 new jobs; informal recorded 158,894 new jobs, while the public sector recorded 5,959 new jobs.

“The total new jobs for quarter one of 2014 was therefore 240,871. This is a decrease by 10.3 per cent from the previous quarter, which recorded 265,702 jobs and lower than the 431,021 jobs created in the corresponding quarter of 2013.”

He said the jobs created in the formal sector in the first quarter of 2014 was also lower than the number of jobs created in the previous quarter at 101,597 and the corresponding quarter in 2013 at 174,326.

The education (private) sector, he noted, dominated the formal sector with the most number of jobs, accounting for 23,643 jobs or 31 per cent of the total share.

This, according to him, was followed by manufacturing with 11,088 jobs representing 14.6 per cent.

“Electricity, gas steam, and air conditioning supply sector, (12 jobs) and water supply, sewage, waste management and remediation sector (12 jobs) created the least jobs in the first quarter 2013,” he added.

For the second quarter of 2014, the NBS boss said the formal sector recorded 78,755 new jobs, the informal recorded 175,786 while the public sector had 4,812 new jobs.

He said as was the case with the first quarter, the education and manufacturing sectors dominated the formal sector with the most number of jobs, accounting for 29,060 or 36.9 per cent and 11,138 or 14.14 per cent respectively.

He said telecommunications and information services sector with 12 new jobs and the accommodation and food services sectors with 57 fresh jobs had the least share of jobs created in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Kale at the event inaugurated a committee to review the methodology for computing unemployment statistics in Nigeria.

The committee, according to him, would deliberate on the current definition of unemployment as applied by NBS as well as propose a most suitable definition for the Nigerian environment, while still satisfying international best practice.

He said the review became imperative since the 40-hour a week definition of employment was no longer adequate as it negates the definition of International Labour Organisation.

The ILO defines employment as persons in the labour force who have been employed for at least one hour in a week.

Kale said, “Using ILO definition strictly, unemployment rate in Nigeria for 2011 will be 2.2 per cent.

“Using NBS’s adjusted definition of unemployment, Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 23.9 per cent in 2011.

“Unfortunately, NBS definition also presents challenges. If you work for 39 hours a week, you will be classified as unemployed who is also inadequate.”

The committee to be headed by Prof Sarah Anyanwu has representatives from the Central Bank of Nigeria, National Planning Commission, Federal Ministry of Finance, Agriculture, and Labour among there as members.