Business & Economy
New Methodology For Unemployment Data ‘Makes No Sense’ – Ex-NBS Boss Yemi Kale
Eko Hot Blog reports that Yemi Kale, former Statistician-General of the Federation, has faulted the new methodology used in computing Nigeria’s unemployment data.
Kale spoke on Arise Television’s Global Business Report on Monday.
Recall that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), on August 24, released a new report that pegged the unemployment rate at 4.1 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023 and 5.3 percent in the previous quarter.
The new figure showed a difference of about 29.2 percent from the unemployment rate of 33.3 percent announced in March 2021.
The NBS said the new methodology — introduced by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) — aligns with global best practices.
However, the former statistician-general disagreed with the decision, saying he had refused to change the country’s unemployment data-gathering methodology because it contradicted the system Nigeria operates.
Kale said during his time at the NBS, the committee in charge of reviewing the minimum number of work hours to count as employed, felt one hour did not make sense because the income generated within that time frame was not necessarily liveable.
He also stated that the most important point of data is to “give policymakers the tools they need to understand the problems, proffer solutions, and monitor the impact of those problems” but the latest methodology does not help do that because it could misleading policymakers according to the economist.
“If the policy and data are to match, policymakers need to come out to say that all they are promising Nigerians is one hour of employment, then the methodology works. But if the methodology is focused on one hour and policymakers are trying to look for full-time employment, the data won’t help them,” he said.
NBS
“It is only there for textbooks, researchers, and international comparison, and there is nothing wrong with that.
“The most important use of data is to provide information for policymakers, not for international comparisons. You have to ensure that your policymakers can use your data.
“This is why I resisted for 10 years because it did not make any sense in terms of providing the information that our policymakers need.
“So, the 20 hours was set because the committee that was set up, which included the ILO, university professors, UNDP, population commission, and CBN, presented their findings and they decided that one hour did not make sense because the income you will generate on an average from one hour’s work was not going to work.
“The 20 hours was decided on because it was agreed that if you work for that duration, you might be able to generate enough income that might sort of equate to what working one hour in the US is, then you have a bit more comparison.”
Kale, however, said unemployment figures from the NBS have always been in line with the international benchmark.
He said in many of the countries that pushed for the new standard, one hour of work made sense, adding that what the ILO had set was a base guideline and countries could tweak it to suit whatever their needs are.
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