Many Nigerians are resorting to online recruitment website, Jobberman, in search of jobs as COVID-19 depletes jobs in the labour market.
A recent report published on Bloomberg showed that the number of people looking for employment through Nigeria’s biggest recruiting website, Jobberman, has jumped five-fold since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jobberman’s chief executive officer, Hilda Kragha, said the number of active job seekers jumped from 10,000 a week to about 55,000, signifying more people are looking for jobs.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently reported that 42 percent of Nigerian workers lost their jobs as a result of the impact of COVID-19, diminishing incomes of 79 percent of households in Nigeria.
“The impact on employment and income has also been widespread. The impact of COVID-19 has been most strongly felt in the commerce, service, and agriculture sectors.”
Jobberman also said there was a 40% drop in recruitment in March, in a build up to the initial COVID-19 lockdown.
Before COVID-19, about 20.9 million Nigerians are without jobs as of 2018, NBS data showed with 4m Nigerians entering the workforce yearly.
The National Vice President, North Central of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, (NASME), Engr. Auwal Ibrahim estimated that about 50,000 workers have been disengaged in the MSMEs sub-sector of the economy.
The Director General of Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph Ari, said the Fund was conducting surveys to determine dominant, relevant trades and mode of intervention required for Government to create more jobs.
