Over 1 million Ghanaians unemployed – GSS

Ghana’s first Labour Force Survey (LFS) report conducted in 2015 has revealed that over one million Ghanaians above age 15 are unemployed.

The 2015 LFS estimates the total population of the country to be 27,669 million, made up of 47.7% males and 52.3% females with a dependency ratio of 81.3.

About 13.7 million people are above age 15 and eligible for employment, the report said.

About 14 million are employed, one million unemployed, three million are not identified in the labour force, and these people are either pregnant, house wives, disabled, pensioners among others. Paid employees are a little over 1.8 million.

The total unemployment rate for Ghana is 11.9 percent and it is higher for females (12.5%) relative to males (11.5%).

This is an indication that females are more likely to be unemployed than their male counterparts.

Upper East region (18.4%) recorded the highest unemployment rate while Brong Ahafo (8.4%) recorded the lowest unemployment rate.

The Service sector is the major employer of about 48 percent while the agriculture come second with about 32 percent.