[ 2017-03-24 ]

Ignatius Baffour-Awuah is the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations

12 per cent Ghanaians jobless - Statistical Service
More than one million Ghanaians, constituting
about 12 per cent of the labour force, are
unemployed, a study conducted by the Ghana
Statistical Service (GSS) in 2015 has revealed.

Out of the number, more than 700,000, constituting
12.5 per cent, are females, while 500,000,
representing 11.5 per cent, are males, indicating
that more females are likely to be unemployed than
males.

Unemployment, according to the GSS, was a
phenomenon where a person had not been engaged for
the last seven days at the time the data was
collected between November 2015 and December 2015
and was available to work if given the
opportunity.

The report on the study, which was launched in
Accra yesterday, also indicated that more than 9.3
million Ghanaians who were 15 years and above,
representing 67.8 per cent, were employed.

The 2015 Ghana Labour Force Survey (LFS), the
first stand-alone survey on the unemployment and
unemployment rate, was aimed at informing policy
decisions about the employment situation in the
country.

The survey was conducted with support from the
Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and
the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

It covered a total of 6,030 households selected
from 402 areas between November and December
2015.

It categorised employment into five main groups,
namely, self-employment, employment work, where
the individual receives salary, unpaid trainee
work, volunteer work and work done out of
compulsion.

Launch

At the launching ceremony, the acting Government
Statistician, Mr Baah Wadieh, said the survey
analysis was based on international standards.

According to the report, unemployment rates were
high in the 10 regions of the country; Upper East
(18.4 per cent) recording the highest unemployment
rate and the Brong Ahafo (8.4 per cent) recording
the lowest. The female unemployment rate was
higher than that of males in all the regions.

The Northern Region also had the highest rate of
employment, slightly more than three-quarters,
constituting about 76.4 per cent.

Vulnerable population

Mr Wadieh indicated that over 60 per cent of the
employed population constituted those who fell
within the self employed category, while over 23
per cent constituted the paid employees.

“This shows that roughly 72 per cent of the
working population is vulnerable, with females
constituting the majority as compared to males,”
the report said.

“Those within the ages of 15 and 35 years, who
constitute the youthful population of Ghana,
representing about 59 per cent, are employed, the
report added.

On wages, the report stated that the labour force
received amounts which were not commensurate to
the kind of work done.

“Currently employed persons in the country earn
on average of GH?898, with males receiving about
GH?1,011, earning higher than females who receive
GH?715.

“Persons working as managers receive the highest
average monthly earnings of GH?1,378 in both cash
and in-kind payment. However, managers whose
earnings are only by in-kind payment receive on
average GH?180 as monthly earnings,” it said.

Government’s commitment

In his address, the Minister of Employment and
Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah,
expressed the government’s commitment to dealing
with the unemployment in the country.

He called on the GSS to carry out annual
statistics on the labour force of the country to
inform decision making.

“I expect that the statistics on Ghana’s
labour force will be released by the end the year
or by January 2018 to help in policy formulation
and decision making.

Source - Graphic.com.gh

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