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Oluwatosin Ejalonibu
Despite the second wave of Covid-19 which started in December,2020, the number of people working in the country as increased compared to when the crisis the started in March of the same year.
According to a survey by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics titled “National Longitudinal Phone Survey” in support of the World Bank and was carried out on 1,950 households.
The data reveals that from 1,383 observations 88% of the respondents in December which was the 8th round of the survey were working compared to 43% recorded in April.
The data also shows that rural areas with 91% had the highest number of employment, while urban areas had 80%.
The data showed that the in all the rounds rural employment had the highest percentage of all the employment, which means that the respondents in the rural areas where getting more jobs than those in the urban areas.
Mid March had 87% rural employment while the urban was 85%, April and may had 47% rural employment while urban had 35%.
others include; in June 75% of rural jobs while 66% urban, July had 86% rural with 72% urban, August had 91% rural while urban stood at 76%, in September 87% of the employment was rural while 79% was urban,October-90% rural while urban was 82%, November-rural 87%- urban-81%, in December- rural-91% while urban was 80%
The data also revealed that October which is the 6th round of the survey had the closest number of working respondents at 87% with 82% urban employment and 87% rural employment.
The data also showed that despite the lock down which lasted for six months, the work status among the respondents kept increasing.
In April and May 43% of the respondents where working but increased to 72% in June which is a 29% increase, it rose to 82% in July, to 86% in August, dropped to 85% in September, rose to 87% in October, dropped back to 85% in November and rose to 88%.
