Akwa Ibom leads Lagos in unemployment rate

Akwa Ibom state reported the highest unemployment rate of the 20.9 million Nigerians unemployed in the third quarter of 2018, latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.

In the report, Akwa Ibom reported the highest unemployment rate of 37.7% while Rivers tops states with the highest unemployed at 36%.

Lagos State on the other hand recorded the highest gains in full employment by adding 740,146 jobs and also recorded the lowest rate of unemployment at 14.6%.

The Bureau’s report shows that six (6) States recorded the highest gains in net full-time employment between Q3 2017 and Q2 2018. According to the statistics, Lagos recorded the highest by adding 740,146 net full-time jobs, followed by Rivers (235,438), Imo (197,147), Ondo (142,514), Enugu (122,333) and Kaduna State (118,929).

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In Q3 2018, the States unemployment report shows that Akwa Ibom state reported the highest unemployment rate (37.7%), followed by Rivers State with (36.4%), Bayelsa state (32.6%), Abia (31.6%) and Borno state (31.4%).

According to the NBS report, the top 5 states with the highest unemployed population are Rivers (1,673,991), Akwa Ibom (1,357,754), Kano (1,257,130), Lagos (1,088,352) and Kaduna with (940,480). However, among these 5 states with the highest unemployed population, Lagos state reported the lowest rate of 14.6% during the quarter under review.

The report further shows that Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, and Yobe recorded the highest underemployment rates during the period under review with 39.5%, 38.1%, 31.0%, and 30.0% respectively.

On the other hand, Nigeria’s National unemployment rate for the quarter was 23.1%, while the underemployment rate was 20.1%.

Despite Akwa Ibom recording the highest unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2018, the Bureau’s report shows that the state recorded the biggest reduction in unemployment rates.

In Q3, 2018, the calculated unemployment rate for Akwa Ibom state was 37.7% (37.91% in Q3 2017), the highest unemployment rate in the zone, while the underemployment rate was 20.1%, this represents a 0.20 percentage points decrease in the unemployment rate and 1.33 percentage point increase in underemployment rate over the corresponding period of the previous year.

The other States that recorded reductions in their unemployment rates despite an increase in the national unemployment rate include Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ondo and Rivers. The same states recorded reduction in their combined unemployment and underemployment rates