Growth rate not reflecting in jobs - Prof. Baah-Boateng

The Head of the Economics Department at the University of Ghana, Prof. William Baah-Boateng, has implored governments to come up with workable plans aimed at addressing the high unemployment rate in the country.

According to him, there is the need to place attention on critical areas of the economy such as agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism which have the tendency to create more jobs.

Speaking to GhanaWeb at the launch of the Manifesto Project organized by the Center for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD Ghana), the economist said Ghana’s growth rate does not reflect in job creation, a phenomenon he terms as ‘jobless growth’.

“The source of growth for every economy is very important and many politicians are quick to say we grew by a certain number. But the source of the growth is not spoken about. So, if you assess Ghana’s growth trajectory, you will realise that the growth is from certain areas. But the sectors that are supposed to generate the jobs are not growing enough. These are agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Rather, those sectors that are not creating direct employment, that is, oil and gas and mining are growing. So you will grow alright but it will not reflect in employment,” he said.

He also indicated that the inadequate data on unemployment rate makes it difficult to measure jobs created by government.

“Unemployment data is an issue in Ghana. There is a definition of what is unemployment rate, but in Ghana, there is a misconception about unemployment rate,” he said.

Prof. Baah-Boateng further explained that workers are required to receive decent remunerations as well as pension contributions.

Citing the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) as an example, Prof. Baah-Boateng said “If you do an analysis and break NABCO down, it will be difficult to even categorize it. Is it under the public sector or what? Is it a decent job? If you talk about a decent job you expect to have social protection as part of it,” he noted.

The Report launched by CDD-Ghana was titled, ‘The Manifesto Project, Promoting responsive and responsible Manifestos for national development, a compilation of issues and Evidence on Key sectors in Ghana’.