FG begins national survey on employment next week

Gbola Subair, Abuja - 15.04.2009

THE Federal Government will next week commence a survey of the employment situation in the country. It is also planning one million jobs for youths.

Minister/Deputy Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr Shamsuudeen Usman, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at the inauguration of the steering committee on employment generation.

Usman said the economy, over the past six years, recorded an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of about seven per cent, thereby making the country one of the fastest growing economies in the world

The minister said there was a general perception that the high growth rate had not translated into commensurate employment.

Noting the absence of a credible data base on employment, Dr. Usman said the last time a national survey on employment was undertaken was in 2006.
He said the committee would examine the causes of the gap between high growth rate of the GDP and persistent high level of unemployment.

Usman said the survey would be carried out in conjunction with the National Bureau of Statistics, the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, the Federal Ministry of Labour and the World Bank.