Unemployment rate ‘higher in South Africa than in Nigeria’
There are more unemployed people in South Africa today than in Nigeria, according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) — the national statistical service of South Africa.
Also, President Goodluck Jonathan, during his opening remarks at the plenary session of the World Economic Forum, noted that the unemployment rates today are over 20 per cent in many countries.
Nigeria’s at about 24 per cent and South Africa at 25 per cent.
The president spoke on the efforts of his administration to reduce unemployment, and offered ideas on how the number of the unemployed in Africa can be cut down.
“For us in Nigeria, job creation has been the main focus of our ongoing Transformation Agenda- which is our program to modernize and diversify the Nigerian economy. Job creation is one of the concerns that keeps me up at night, and it has been the main theme of our Federal Government Budget in recent years,” he said.
“We recognise that the private sector will be the engine of growth and job creation. And we are putting in place the necessary conditions to support this private sector growth, such as ensuring a stable macroeconomic environment (low inflation, stable exchange rates and so on), investing in critical infrastructure (roads, railways, power etc), and investing in the development of skills of our people.”
Emphasising that his priority is to create jobs in Nigeria, he said his administration has focused on a number of priority sectors which have high job-creating potential such as agriculture, manufacturing, housing & construction, and the services sector.
The World Economic Forum on Africa, with the theme Creating Jobs and Forging Inclusive Growth, commenced yesterday
Why are Nigerians so dumb? Even the so called editors are too lazy to check their facts. The total population of South Africa is 40 million. 25% is 10 million. Nigeria's 20% unemployment is more than 34 million. In fact there are more than 40 million youths unemployed in Nigeria. Add the underemployed adults and you have over 60 million Nigerians that are destitute. Get you facts right.
Well said Tony
Thank u Tony. But note: Nig's unemployment rate is not 24 but 74 per cent. Add d underemployed and u have 94 per cent. That's why 6m graduates applied for 4,000 slots in uniform-wearing Immigration Service. Needless to say, the Nign economy would have since collapsed except for high oil prices. The end is very near — when d unemplyt rate will hit 99 per cent!