Coronavirus: 11.2 million Ghanaian jobs affected due to pandemic - Baffour-Awuah

The jobs of 11.2 million people in the country have been affected due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, Ghana’s Minister for Employment and Labour Relations has disclosed.

This comes on the back of the pandemic’s associated restrictions, closure of air, sea and land borders and a halt in demand and supply chains globally.

According to Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, a survey conducted by his outfit showed that 40 percent of the Ghanaian labour force have had to take pay cuts as result of pandemic’s impact.

Addressing journalists at a press briefing on Wednesday, September 16, 2020 in Accra, the minister explained, “Results of the survey indicated that 17,685 out of the 44,000, that is 40 percent of workers suffered pay cuts. Pay cuts were highest among medium scale enterprises with 46 percent of workers affected and lowest among small scale enterprises with 38 percent being affected.”

Baffour-Awuah noted that 98.5% of workers in the private sector were the most affected while that of the public sector were the least affected.

The Minister however indicated government's resolve to set up the National Unemployment Scheme which will be used to support affected workers in the formal sector.