Ghana's unemployment rate to remain steady at 4% through 2026 - Fitch Solutions

Fitch Solutions projects Ghana's unemployment rate to average 4.0% of the labour force in 2024, with this level expected to persist through 2025 and 2026.

The UK-based firm noted that unemployment in Ghana has been gradually rising since 2017 and is anticipated to continue along this trajectory in the medium term and beyond.

The report highlighted several challenges affecting the country's labour market.

Ghana's workforce is constrained by a low life expectancy of around 64.3 years, largely due to limited government expenditure on healthcare and the prevalence of water-borne diseases and chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS.

Moreover, a shortage of highly skilled workers forces employers to look abroad to fill gaps in the domestic labour market.

Fitch Solutions also pointed to broader economic challenges stemming from the reopening of global economies following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Inflationary pressures are being fuelled by both demand-pull and cost-push factors.

"In an effort to reduce inflation, central banks have implemented policy rate increases at some of the most rapid paces in history," the report stated. "This has decreased the value of debt accrued during the historically low-interest rate period from 2015 to 2019."

While household wealth has reached historic highs, driven by strong equity market performance and rising house prices, some property markets are beginning to show signs of weakness. Additionally, the outlook for many companies is becoming increasingly negative.

The report warned that if these trends continue to worsen, a significant decline in consumer wealth could trigger a sharp drop in consumption.