Employees in Nigeria’s formal sector earned N159.01tn from 2018 to 2021, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The statistics body revealed this in its ‘Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report’ released on Thursday.
According to the NBS, the total compensation of employees in the nation, based on the GDP and expenditure at current purchasers’ value, was N34.36tn in 2018, N38.61tn in 2019, N39.94tn in 2020, and N46.11tn in 2021.
It defined compensation of employees as the “total remuneration of employees in the formal sector, including both wages and salaries, and benefits in kind (such as pensions).”
For the third and fourth quarters of 2021, the NBS said, “In Q3 and Q4 2021, compensation of employees grew by 14.54 per cent and 11.79 per cent respectively in real terms year on year.
“Positive growth was recorded in Q1 and negative growths in Q2, Q3 of the previous year at 6.70 per cent, -6.47 per cent and -2.32 per cent respectively. This moved to positive growth (6.36 per cent) in Q4 2020 and Q1-Q4 2021. Overall, growth in 2021 stood at 13.68 per cent, higher by 12.71 per cent points in real terms, compared to 2020 which recorded 0.96 per cent.
“On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the compensation of employees in real terms fell by -1.48 per cent in Q3 and grew by 13.41 per cent in Q4 2021. In nominal terms, compensation of employees grew by 17.55% per cent and 12.50 per cent in Q3 and Q4 2021 respectively. Nominal annual growth rate of 15.46 per cent for 2021 was recorded, which was higher than 3.45 per cent in 2020.”
It added that the growth rate stood at 13.68 per cent in 2021 compared to 0.96 per cent in 2020.
In its, ‘Labor Force Statistics: Unemployment and Underemployment Report (Q4 2020),’ the NBS had disclosed that the nation had 122.05 million people in its economically active or working-age population (15 – 64 years of age).
It said, “The number of persons in the labour force (i.e., people within ages 15 -64, who are able and willing to work) was estimated to be 69,675,468. This was 13.22 per cent less than the number of persons in Q2, 2020. Of this number, those within the age bracket of 25-34 were highest, with 20,091,695 or 28.8% of the labour force.”
The statistics body added that the number of people in employment in Q4, 2022 was 46.49 million, of which 30.57 million were full-time employed (i.e., worked 40+ hours per week), while 15.92 million were underemployed (i.e., working between 20-29 hours per week).
The NBS stated that the unemployment rate in Q4, 2020 was 33.3 per cent, and the unemployment rate among young people (15- 34years) was 42.5 per cent.
