Nigeria’s unemployment rate has increased from 27.1% to 33.3% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

This was disclosed in the Labour Statistic Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

“The number of persons in the economically active or working-age population (15 – 64 years of age) during the reference period of the survey, Q4, 2020 was 122,049,400. This is 4.3% higher than the figure recorded In Q2, 2020, which was 116.871, 186, ” NBS said.

Under-employment rate in the reference period however dropped from 28.6% recorded as at the second quarter 2020 to 22.8% in Q4 2020.

The increase in the unemployment rate figures can be credited to the effect of the covid-19 induced lockdown which caused various organisations to reduce their work force as a coping mechanism during the pandemic.