National Bureau Statistics, Enlightens Nigerians on New Labour Force Statistics

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), recently announced the changes to some of the definitions and concepts applied in the Computation of Labour Force Statistics in Nigeria and enlightened the country on the new methodology on the Nigerian Labour Force Survey (NFLS).

According to NBS, the new methodology on unemployment and underemployment statistics will adequately capture if a person is working or not and the level of such work.

These changes also include a revision to the design and methodology used in the conduct of the Labour Force Survey, it’s the survey that produces most of the labour market statistics, including the rates of Unemployment and Underemployment.

This was recently disclosed the to some gentlemen of the press by the executive director Centre for Peace, Transparency and Accountability (CPTA), Comrade Patrick Ogheneyero O.

In an effort to educate Nigerians, Comrade Patrick said that “the previous methodology used, did not adequately capture those who are really working and those who are not.

“Prior to 2014 when the last Labour Force Methodology Review was conducted, anybody who worked for less than 40 hours (I.e. 1 – 39) within 7 days, would be considered unemployed.

“Of course, you can imagine the issues associated with that definition; many teachers, farmers and some other professions were considered unemployed, which ought not to be. So, a review was conducted in 2014 to address that definition, which resulted in the 20 – hour benchmark that was being used until recently.

“Under the review done in 2014, if you work 1 – 19 hours a week, you are considered unemployed, and if you work 20 – 39 hours a week, you are considered as Under-employed (time related Under-employed), regardless whether you desire to do more hours of work or not. And that has been our definition since 2014 until the recent change”.

Comrade Patrick added that in 2013, a new guideline for the for the production of labour force statistics was published by International Labour Organization (ILO). He said the guidelines sought to address limitations with the previous guidelines by providing broader measures of labour underutilization beyond unemployment. It recognized all work done, paid and unpaid, and also, sought to integrate labour statistics with other topics such as GDP (Labour Productivity).

Some of the Changes Made Using the New International Labour Organization (ILO) Guidelines.

• Working Age Population – it was previously 15-64, but its now 15 and above.
• Labour Force – Previously those between the ages of 15-64 that were willing and available to for work, which includes those employed and those employed. However, it is now those aged 15 and above that are willing and available to work, including those employed and those employed.
• Unemployed Persons – the new definition of unemployed persons, is anyone within the labour force, who within the reference period, (previous 7 days) did nothing or worked for less than an hour. This is a significant change from the old definition, where to qualify to be employed, a person needed to have worked for a minimum of 20 hours within the reference period of 7 days.
• Under-employed Persons – Under the old definition, a person is considered under-employed if he or she worked between 20 and 39 hours within the reference period of a week. Under the new definition, anyone working under 40 hours, that is 1-39 hours a week, and is willing to accept more hours of work is considered under-employed.