The National Bureau of Statistics in conjunction with Jobberman released their 2016 first quarter employment report. According to the Bureau, application for jobs has fallen from about 318,233 in October 2015 to about 145, 872 in March 2016 representing a whopping 55% drop.
In fact, job applications have been sliding since last year, with the situation worsening in February 2016 when applications fell to as low as 123, 657. The report also indicates that Trade/Services posted the largest number of vacancies as well as applications during the period. The oil and gas and banking sector receive the most number of application per vacancy suggesting that more people were applying to these sectors than any other.
So What could be causing this?
The Bureau did not offer any official explanation for this drop. but we believe it all boils down to one thing. Companies are simply doing more of firing than hiring leaving job applicants with no choice but to seek other alternatives. As finding a job becomes harder, many people drop out of the labour force not because they do not want to work for anyone but because they are tired of seeking for jobs.
The data also in a way buttresses this fact (see table above). Even though vacancies increased between October 2015 and March 2015 applications dropped. Nigerians have probably resigned to the fact that they won’t get quality jobs. According to the report, the least competitive industry in the first quarter was Trade/Services, which recorded more vacancies than any other sector. Out of the 5,2626 vacancies, trade and services sector accounted for 83% or 4383 of the total vacancies.
Good paying jobs are nearly had to find and when they do announce vacancies, the application rate is always high as the chart below depicts.
Get the report here