TheCable

The Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr Yemi Kale, has disclosed that more than 700,000 jobs were created in three quarters of 20013.

Kale, speaking at a news conference in Abuja, said that the results of the job creation survey showed that “the economy generated 221,054 jobs in the second quarter, 245,989 jobs in the third quarter and 265,702 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2013.”

He said that “a breakdown of jobs created in the second quarter indicated that 80,412 jobs were created in the formal sector, 112,567 jobs were created in the informal sector, and 28,075 in the public sector.”

According to the SG, the formal sector contributed 76,385 jobs to the total jobs generated in the third quarter of 2013, while the informal and public sectors generated 140,673 and 28,931 jobs, respectively.

“In fourth quarter of 2013, the formal sector contributed 101,597, while the informal and public sectors created 143,278 and 20,827 jobs respectively,” he added.

Education and manufacturing generated the highest jobs in the three quarters.

In the second quarter, education reportedly created 37,578 new jobs, manufacturing 9,000, education 29,777, while manufacturing generated 13,946 new jobs in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, education and manufacturing sectors contributed 76,874 and 12,337 new jobs, respectively.

The figures show that the informal sector led in the creation of new employment in the economy, while the administrative and support services recorded the lowest jobs. In the three quarters covered, the informal sector contributed over 54 per cent of total jobs created.

According to Kale, the purpose of the survey is to measure employment growth, unemployment, and under-employment to enable the policymakers and other stakeholders to proffer solutions to the problem.