A recent analysis by the World Bank shows that despite the government aspiration to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030, around 4 in 10 Nigerians lived below the national poverty line even before the pandemic. Yet, The Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS) data show that employment in Nigeria plummeted at the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
“COVID-19’s “double shock”—health and economic—has intensified the need for new evidence to understand jobs and livelihoods in Nigeria,” said the analysis, authored by economists Tara Vishwanath and Jonathan Lain.
This topic is crucial in Nigeria since understanding the labour market is essential for poverty reduction.
NLPS main respondents in each household who were working were cut more than half between mid-March 2020 and April/May 2020, dropping from 86 per cent to 42 per cent. The period oversaw strict lockdown measures. Several restrictions on mobility have stopped people from going to work on a global scale.
“Despite the initial drop, employment in Nigeria recovered quickly. By August 2020, the share of main respondents in each household who were working had returned to pre-pandemic levels. In this sense, Nigeria’s labour market echoed the V-shaped recovery observers hoped for in the global economy as a whole, following the COVID-19 crisis,” the analysis explained.
COVID-19 also caused a significant shift in Nigerians’ labour market activities. Workers lacked stability and security in their employment as they took on whatever activities could help them cope with the financial effects of the COVID-19.
