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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 77.55 million people are engaged in economic activities out of a labour force of 85.08 million in the third quarter of 2017.

The NBS disclosed this in a “Labour Force Statistics Volume 2: Employment by Sector report for Third Quarter of 2017’’ released by the bureau.

According to the bureau, the 77.55 million are engaged in some sort of economic activities for at least an hour a week.

The NBS notes that 8.46 million were engaged between one to19 hours weekly; 18.02 million 20 to 39 hours; 51.06 million above 40 hours, while 7.53 million were doing absolutely nothing.

The bureau explained that it classified those working less than 20 hours a week and those doing absolutely nothing as unemployed.

It also stated that it classified those working 20 to 39 hours or doing jobs not commensurate with their qualifications and skills as underemployed.

The bureau, however, stated that out of 8.46 million persons that worked within 1 to19 hours a week, 1.83 million or 21.67 per cent work for pay/ wage.

It stated that the 5.84 million or 69.03 per cent were self-employed working in agriculture (4.18 million or 49.44 per cent) and non-agriculture related activities (1.65 million or 19.58 per cent).

In addition, it stated that 83,978 or 0.99 per cent were paid apprentice and 703,240 or 8.31 per cent were unpaid house workers.

It stated that under the working hours’ category, Agriculture sector with 59.02 per cent or 5.01 million persons dominated, followed by Trade (9.7 per cent), Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (7.0 per cent).

The bureau further stated that out of 18.02 million persons that worked within 20 to 39 hours a week and classified as underemployed, 3.77 million or 20.96 per cent work for pay/wage.

It stated that 11.60 million or 64.36 per cent were self-employed working in agriculture (6.62million or 36.72 per cent) and non-agriculture related activities (4.98 million or 27.64 per cent).

In addition, it stated that 231,671 or 1.28 per cent were paid apprentice and 2.41 million or 13.39 per cent were unpaid house workers.

Meanwhile, the report stated that more males worked full-time than female, while a higher percentage of female worked part-time between 20 to 39 hours and below 20 hours per week.

It stated that the absolute number of male full-time workers (34.85 million) was more than twice the number of female full-time workers (16.21 million) in the third quarter of 2017.

The report also stated that a larger percentage of males to females were self-employed in farming/agriculture work, while a larger percentage of females were self-employed in non-farming/agriculture work.

It stated that agriculture dominated both female and male labour markets.

(NAN)