A quarter of a million of Ghana's labour population unemployed - GSS Q4 Report

A 2022 report by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), has revealed that at least a quarter of a million Ghanaians are unemployed.

This means that about 250,000 of the total population as of 2022 were unemployed.

The report indicated that the estimated number of unemployed individuals and those living in food-insecure households ranged from 250,000 in the third quarter to about 330,000 in the second quarter of 2022.

The findings noted that a significant portion of the population is facing not only joblessness but also food insecurity, that is they lack consistent access to enough food for active and healthy living.

“The estimated number of unemployed and food insecure persons in the labour force ranged from 250,000 in the third quarter to 330,000 in the second. These statistics emanate from the recently released Ghana Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey: Quarter 4 2022 Labour Statistics Report.

“Over half a million persons in the labour force were unemployed and multidimensionally poor in every quarter of 2022, ranging from an estimated 550,000 in the fourth quarter to 780,000 in the first quarter,” the report stated.

Furthermore, the report highlighted the gender and demographic disparities in unemployment rates. It noted higher rates for females compared to males. Also, a higher rates in urban areas compared to rural areas.

“The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter was 11.5 percent, the lowest recorded across all quarters in 2022. Fourth quarter unemployment rates are higher for females (12.5%) compared to males (10.3%); and higher in urban areas (14.3%) compared to rural (7.8%), patterns consistent with what was observed for the previous three Quarters,” the report continued.

Disturbingly, the survey indicated that two in every three employed persons aged 15 years or older are either self-employed without employees or contributing family workers.

“Two in every three (68.1%) employed persons 15 years and older in the fourth quarter were in vulnerable employment (i.e. self-employed without employees or contributing family workers), the highest recorded across all quarters. All regions except for Greater Accra had more than half of the employed persons in vulnerable employment. The highest rate of vulnerable employment in the fourth quarter was recorded in the North East (92.1%), Savannah (90.6%), and Northern (84.2%) regions.

“Over 2.1 million persons aged 15 to 35 years were not in education, employment, or training (NEET) across all quarters. In the fourth quarter, one in every five persons (20.2%) aged 15 to 35 years was NEET. Greater Accra recorded the highest NEET rate (26.5%) in the fourth quarter followed by the Ashanti (22.9%) and Upper East (22.9%) regions. All 16 regions recorded double-digit figures for youth NEET in all quarters with the lowest recorded in Oti in the fourth quarter (11.2%).The Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) is the first nationally representative high frequency household panel survey in Ghana,” the report added.

Meanwhile the government has implemented a number of employment programs aimed at reducing the growing rate of unemployment in the country.

The most recent of these programs is the E-Jobs4all initiative aimed at providing jobs to nearly 10,000 youths.

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