1.8m youth unemployed, not in education in Ghana

A survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has shown that 1.8 million youth, representing 28.8% within 15-24 years, are unemployed, not in education and not training.

The situation is worrying and urged the Government to identify these individuals and meet their needs to curb the unemployed situation in the country.

He said this during the launch of the Ghana Annual Households Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) 2022, the first and second quarters report on Food Security, Multidimensional Poverty and Labour Statistics.

The report revealed that about 445,000 persons who were 15 years and older, and outside the labour force, raised the number of unemployed in the country.

These persons, according to the report, are people who are either sick and in school or on retirement.

The report indicated that the number of unemployed increase from 13.4% to 13.9%, a situation that implied a higher employment rate of 86.6% and 86.1% respectively for the two quarters.

The high rate of employed is as a result of people who are in vulnerable employment, constituting 67% while 24% of persons had secured employment.

Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician said these vulnerable groups were either working without employees or contributing family workers.

He said the GSS is going to engage with labour economists to understand the dynamics of the report holistically and to aid in policy formulation for the country.

AHIES is the first nationally representative high-frequency household panel survey in Ghana.

It was conducted to obtain quarterly and annual data on household final consumption expenditure, and a wide scope of demographic, economic and welfare variables including statistics on labour, food security, multidimensional poverty and health status for research, policy, and planning.

Ghana needs a holistic policy environment encompassing both labor supply and demand side interventions says a new World Bank Group Report.

Among various recommendations, the report calls for programs that incorporate new skills required by employers such as basic digital and soft skills into the education system; as well as operationalize job intermediation systems to ensure that young people are appropriately linked to available jobs, while creating more opportunities for quality jobs.