Ghana’s unemployment rate drops by 3.5% | Characteristics

The total unemployment rate in Ghana has dropped by about 3.5 percentage points despite the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the labor sector and the wider economy.

This came to the fore when the Minister of Employment and Labor Relations, Ignatius Baffuor Awuah, took his turn in the periodic cycle “Meet The Press” organized by the Ministry of Information yesterday.

According to the report of the 7th round of the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS7, 2019), the total unemployment rate of Ghana is 8.4% compared to the unemployment rate of 11.9% reported in GLSS6 of 2015, a reduction of 3.5%. points.

This rate is higher among women (9.2%) than among men (7.5%). In terms of regions, Greater Accra recorded the highest unemployment rate of 11.8%, followed by Ashanti (10.3%). The Volta region recorded the lowest unemployment rate of 5.8 percent, followed by then-Brong-Ahafo (6.0%).

The youth unemployment rate has also decreased from 16.9 percent as reported in GLSS6, 2015 to 12.6 percent as reported in GLSS7, 2019.
According to the Minister, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, low-wage and unskilled workers were observed to be the most vulnerable.

Further analysis also showed that workplace transmissions were becoming rampant, therefore, to reduce the spread of the virus in workplaces, the Ministry, in collaboration with the National Tripartite Committee, issued a Statement of 10 points about safety in the workplace.

The purpose was to consolidate the preventive protocols of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS), as well as to improve the routine inspections of the Department of Labor and the Factory Department Inspection, which has had great success.

The Ministry embarked on a nationwide random inspection of offices, shops and factories. “I personally led a team to inspect randomly selected workplaces to determine for myself the level of compliance with the COVID-19 protocols. Some of the institutions visited within Greater Accra, Tema, Nsawam and the surrounding areas were in the manufacturing, service, retail and recycling subsectors.

This was to ensure strict compliance with and application of the COVID-19 protocols and guidelines outlined by the government.

I am pleased to report that 80% of the establishments inspected met the guidelines prescribed by the Government and the World Health Organization. I want to urge all employers and workers to continue to comply with the prescribed protocols to guarantee safety in the workplace, ”said the minister.

On promoting employment, Mr. Awuah revealed that since January 2017, his Ministry had continued in line with its mandate to enhance capacities at the national and sub-national levels for the promotion of decent work opportunities.

The Ministry is also working with the Delegation of the European Union in Ghana to improve the capacity of the Department of Labor and its Public Employment Centers (PEC). As a result, eight (8) PECs were renovated and modernized in strategic locations to enable them to provide active labor market services, including job search and career counseling for job seekers.

These centers include Accra, Tema, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Tarkwa, Sunyani, Tamale and the Employment Information Service (EIB) of the Department of Labor (LD). Aside from the routine active labor market functions of PECs, the primary goal of renewals and other capacity-building interventions is to enable these centers and sections of the Department of Labor to collect and disseminate labor market information in a timely manner to meet with the full operationalization of the objectives of the Ghana Labor Market Information System (GLMIS).

“Once again, in accordance with the Ministry’s Employment Promotion Agenda, the Ministry has established a Ghana-German Employment Center in Accra in collaboration with the German International Development Corporation (GIZ).

The purpose of the center is to implement active labor market interventions that would enhance the provision of decent employment opportunities for job seekers, particularly young people who intend to migrate out of Ghana via unapproved routes.

Since its inception in 2017 to date, 65,277 people have accessed the center’s services. Of this number, 28,901 accessed information / career guidance / counseling services on the labor market. A total of 4,243 received start-up and business development services that enabled them to establish their own businesses. Additionally, 2,527 were also assigned to companies as interns.

A total of 2,606 were placed in available vacant positions. While 614 returned migrants also received psychosocial and reintegration support ”, said the Minister.