A new report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that 20.9 million Nigerians are currently unemployed.
According to the report, titled “Q3 2018 Labor Force Statistics,” Akwa Ibom reported the highest unemployment rate at 37.7%.
Rivers State follows closely with 36.4%, then Bayelsa state (32.6%), Abia (31.6%) and Borno state (31.4%).
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“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).
The report added that only nine states were able to reduce unemployment and underemployment rates between the third quarter of 2017 and the corresponding quarter in 2018. These include Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ondo and Rivers.
In all the 36 states, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, and Yobe, recorded the highest underemployment rates between July and September 2018.