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Unemployment has shown itself a capable acquaintance of growth in the three quarters Nigeria has witnessed positive economic growth since recovering from recession in Q2 2017.
Inclusive economic growth should be followed by increasing the level productivity of individuals, businesses and institutions. A broad-gauge growth also entails increasing the resources input into the economy through inclusiveness of underutilized people and assets.
According to Robert Weissbourd, “if millions of poor people become more economically productive and enter the middle class, net economic growth occurs. This expansion of the economy results in growing markets and production of new goods and services. Economic growth creates a bigger pie with broad benefits. One fundamental goal of economic development must be to create the most productive, efficient, high-growth economy possible”
An economic recession is consistent with an increase in unemployment as jobs are lost and new jobs creation is hindered. Nigerian economy officially slumped into recession in 2016 but oil price recovery and increased production ended the scourge in Q2 2017 when the country’s GDP recorded positive growth rate (0.72 percent) for the first time in more than 4 quarters however, increasing unemployment rate persist.
Bismark Rewane said, “We’ve talked about growth, stable exchange rates, and increasing foreign reserves but the underlining fact is that underemployment and unemployment have increased. The sectors that are growing are the ones employing people”
“The sectors that employ people which are interest rate sensitive are the ones that actually slowed and contracted. I therefore submit that if we do not bring down interest rate which has remained at the same level for more than 22 months to stimulate economic activity, then all of these things are just going to remain numbers”
“We must shift emphasis and invest in areas where there are labor intensive activities and create jobs because the unemployed man becomes a dysfunctional member of the society who disrupts kidnaps etc.” he concluded.
Dolapo Ashiru said “the economy of Nigeria is pedestrian and still recovering. People often benchmark GDP growth rate with population growth rate. Nigeria’s population growth rate is about 2.8 percent. If your GDP growth rate is below the population growth rate, it means you are working backwards, if it is the same, it means you are standing still, and if it is higher, you are moving forward.
“What we need are policies that will spur growth in employment opportunities especially on the investment side. The recovery we are seeing how is powered by increasing oil prices and production both of which has nothing to do with the government, anything can happy at anytime” he concluded
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), real growth of the oil sector was 14.77 percent (year-on-year) in Q1 2018. This represents an increase of 30.37 percent points relative to rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2017. Quarter-on, the oil sector grew by 13.24 percent in Q1 2018. The Oil sector contributed 9.61 percent to total real GDP in Q1 2018, up from 8.53 percent and 7.35 percent recorded in the Q1 2017 and Q4 2017, respectively.
In real terms, the Non-Oil sector contributed 90.39% to the nation’s GDP, lower than 91.47% recorded in the first quarter of 2017 and 92.65% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The economically active or working age population (15 – 64 years of age) increased from 110.3 million in Q2 2017 to 111.1 million in Q3 2017. The labor force population increased from 83.9 million in Q2 2017 to 85.1 million in Q3 2017.
The number of people within the labor force who are unemployed or underemployed increased from 13.6 million and 17.7 million respectively in Q2 2017, to 15.9 million and 18.0 million in Q3 2017.
