Is Nigeria’s Current Unemployment Rate At 4.3%, The Lowest In Africa?
An X user @MasterBolaji has claimed that Nigeria’s current unemployment rate at 4.3%, is one of the lowest in Africa. Their post reads, “Nigeria’s current unemployment rate is about 4.3%, one of the lowest in Africa. This suggests that the average Nigerian has a means of income-generating activity.”
When this report was published, the post had 239,100 views and about 2,067 replies, reposts, quotes, likes and bookmarks. @Lordfoster102 in the comment section said “4.3% unemployment? In which Nigeria, the one on Earth or the one in the economist’s spreadsheet? These numbers don’t reflect reality; they reflect imagination. When half the country is doing survival hustles just to eat, you cannot call that “income-generating activity.” If selling pure water at traffic or doing one errand job every two weeks is now counted as employment, then of course the figures will look fantastic. This is not data, it’s deodorant for a decaying economy.” @AwalaAle also wrote, “4.3 % Abeg which jobs are you referring to ?? Are you also taking into account people who manage small online businesses as well managing to eat from hand to mouth ?? Or the petty traders who can’t manage with the rising cost of goods in the market ?? Bros please think well”
VERIFICATION
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, Nigeria’s unemployment rate was reported as 4.3% in Q2 2024. This marked a drop from 5.3 percent in Q1 2024.
The drop to 4.3% is strongly driven by a very high share of self-employment and informal jobs. In Q2 2024, 85.6% of employed Nigerians were self-employed, and informal employment was dominant. Oludele Folarin, a US-based development economist, said “when more people are self-employed, the unemployment rate drops. People are creating their jobs and the informal employment rising to 93 percent indicates that the quality of job is low”. According to AP News, labour-market watchers have expressed concerns about Nigeria’s current measure of employment’ noting that counting minimal or irregular work understates the true extent of joblessness or labour underutilisation.
Comparisons With Other African Countries
There are several African countries with very low reported unemployment rates, for example small states with different labour market structures (often with large informal or agrarian sectors). According to a list obtained from Trading Economics about the unemployment rate in Africa, countries like Niger, Burundi, Chad, and others have lower official unemployment rates than 4.3%.
Trading Economics data on unemployment rate in 51 African countries between June 2024 – June 2025 shows that 66.7% of them [African nations] have high official unemployment, between 5–34%. But, direct comparisons are fraught because labour-market definitions, survey methods, and the prevalence of informal work vary considerably in each country.
Source: Trading Economics
CONCLUSION
The claim that Nigeria’s unemployment rate of 4.3% is one of the lowest in Africa, is MISLEADING. The latest report from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, NBS indicates that the country’s unemployment rate dropped from 5.3% in Q1 2024 to 4.3%in Q2 2024. While this is significant, countries like Niger, Burundi, Chad, and others have even lower official unemployment rates. Additionally, direct comparisons amongst African countries are complicated by a number of factors such as definitions of employment versus unemployment.
