A report from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) reveals that individuals with higher education are struggling to secure employment in Ghana.
Approximately 22.3 percent of those who experienced a 21-month unemployment spell from January 2022 to September 2023 had completed tertiary education. Nearly 48 percent of those facing unemployment had finished secondary education.
The GSS study defines an unemployment spell as a continuous period during which a person remains unemployed despite being willing and capable of working.
Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, presented these labor statistics based on the Ghana 2023 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) quarter three labor statistics bulletin in Accra.
Around 200,000 individuals encountered an unemployment spell lasting at least 12 months between the first quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023.
The highest instances of unemployment were observed among females, urban residents (18,086 persons), those with secondary education (9,987), and individuals aged 15 to 24 years (9,341).
The survey tracked people unemployed for various durations, including two quarters (six months), nine months, and 21 months.
The AHIES is Ghana’s first nationally representative high-frequency household panel survey, providing quarterly labor statistics for seven quarters from Q1 2022 to Q3 2023, disaggregated by various factors.
Youth unemployment accounted for more than three-quarters of the total unemployment population of 1.85 million, with 1.3 million individuals aged 15 to 35 years facing unemployment.
Professor Annim emphasized the need for policymakers to focus on addressing youth unemployment and highlighted that interventions should target this specific demographic.
The report indicated a year-on-year increase in the unemployment rate, with the Western Region (7.8%), Greater Accra (5%), and North East (3.7%) recording the highest increases. In contrast, Northern (-6.3%), Savannah (-2.9%), and Bono East (-2.9%) showed declines.
Professor Annim emphasized the necessity of addressing unemployment differently across administrative regions, particularly in Greater Accra and Ashanti, which consistently recorded higher unemployment rates than the national average.
The report also highlighted a 3.6 percentage point increase in the Youth Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET) category between the second and third quarters of 2023.
Statistics on labor mobility revealed that among the 530,000 individuals transitioning from employment to unemployment status between Q4 2022 and Q1 2023, over half (280,000) remained unemployed in Q2 2023. Additionally, 440,000 individuals joined the labor force between Q1 2023 and Q3 2023, with 60 percent (240,000) finding employment.
The Director of Research, Statistics, and Information Management at the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations (MELR), George Amoah, emphasized the government’s reliance on such statistics for planning and outlined plans to utilize the report for the benefit of the country, especially in ensuring decent work for the populace.