THE United Nations (UN) has predicted that the global unemployment rate would worsen in 2024.
The UN, through its labour agency, the International Labour Organization (ILO), stated this in the World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2024 report released on Wednesday, January 10.
According to the report, at least two million more workers will search for jobs in 2024, as the global unemployment rate has risen from 5.1 to 5.2 per cent.
It also noted a persisting difference in job gap rates between high-income and low-income countries.
“Important differences persist between higher and lower-income countries. While the jobs gap rate in 2023 was 8.2 per cent in high-income countries, it stood at 20.5 per cent in the low-income group. Similarly, while the 2023 unemployment rate persisted at 4.5 per cent in high-income countries, it was 5.7 per cent in low-income countries.
“Moreover, working poverty is likely to persist. Despite quickly declining after 2020, the number of workers living in extreme poverty (earning less than US $2.15 per person per day in purchasing power parity terms) grew by about one million in 2023. The number of workers living in moderate poverty (earning less than US$3.65 per day per person in PPP terms) increased by 8.4 million in 2023,” the report read.
It also stated that economic growth in Africa was predicted to remain weak.
“Economic growth in Africa is projected to remain weak, increasing from an average of 3.3 per cent in 2023 to 3.5 per cent in 2024. The global economic slowdown, tighter monetary and fiscal conditions, and high debt sustainability risks will remain a drag on the region’s growth prospects.
“The unfolding climate crisis and extreme weather events will undermine agricultural output and tourism, while geopolitical instability will continue to adversely impact several sub-regions in Africa, especially the Sahel and North Africa,” the report read.
In 2023, Nigeria was rated as one of the top four countries with the highest unemployment in Africa.
The country’s current unemployment rate is 5.3, resulting from a revised methodology applied by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Until August 2023, Nigeria’s unemployment rate was at 33.1 per cent. However, the figure dropped to 4.1 per cent after the NBS decided to deploy the Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS) in its calculations.
There were heightened concerns over the change in methodology, and analysts have argued that the figures are disconnected from Nigeria’s inflation rate and what constitutes a living wage.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.