Nigeria’s unemployment rate continued its rise in the last quarter of 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on Monday, jumping to a record 33.3 percent.

The statistics office also said the number of underemployed Nigerians worsened in the same period to 22.8 percent.

Another troubling part of the report was that the number of Nigerians not gainfully employed also jumped to 40 percent, indicating that the country has yet to recover from the coronavirus disruptions that characterised economic activities for 2020.

The estimated number of persons within the working-age population, that is between 15 and 64 years during the period, was 122,049,400 Nigerians.

This represents 4.3 percent higher than figures previously recorded in Q2, 2020, at 116,871,186. 

Following the breakdown per state, Imo State reported the highest rate of unemployment with 56.6 percent. Adamawa and Cross River followed closely with 54.9 percent and 53.7 percent, respectively. 

For underemployment, Benue recorded the highest rate at 43.5 percent; while Lagos State recorded the lowest underemployment rate, with 4.5 percent in Q4, 2020.