1.76m Ghanaians unemployed in third quarter of 2022 – GSS report

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has announced that bout 1.76 million persons were unemployed in the third quarter of 2022. The GSS said within this population, two out of every three unemployed persons were females.

Across the three quarters, about 157,000 persons experienced an unemployment spell i.e. they were unemployed in all the quarters. Close to 7.5 million persons remained employed throughout the three quarters out of the about 11 million persons employed in each quarter.

This indicates that across the three quarters about 3.5 million persons were moving in and out of employment depicting vulnerabilities. This was contained in the Ghana 2022 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) Third Quarter Labour Statistics released by the GSS on Wednesday, May 3. “The next key finding was that the transition from informal employment to unemployment is on the average five times more than from formal employment into unemployment,” the report said. Find below the full report… The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has released the Ghana 2022 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) Third Quarter Labour Statistics. The report was released on Wednesday 3rd May 2023 at the Accra International Conference Centre. The programme was chaired by Hon. Bright Wireko-Brobbey, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations. The Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim made a presentation on the highlights from the report which included statistics on economic activity status, employment status, unemployment rate, youth not in employment, education or training (NEET), and labour mobilities across quarters, specifically movements in and out of employment, and across economic sectors (agriculture, industry, and services). Prof. Annim concluded his presentation with five key takeaway messages. The first is that about 1.76 million persons were unemployed in the third quarter of 2022. Within this population, two out of every three unemployed persons were females. Across the three quarters, about 157,000 persons experienced an unemployment spell i.e. they were unemployed in all the quarters. Close to 7.5 million persons remained employed throughout the three quarters out of the about 11 million persons employed in each quarter. This indicates that across the three quarters about 3.5 million persons were moving in and out of employment depicting vulnerabilities. The next key finding was that the transition from informal employment to unemployment is on average five times more than from formal employment into unemployment. Further, two out of every three unemployed persons in Q3 that were employed in Q1 were in vulnerable employment in the first quarter. Finally, the triple population burden i.e. simultaneously unemployed, food insecure, and multidimensionally poor increased by almost 55,000 between Q2 and Q3. Hon. Wireko-Brobbey in his remarks expressed the Government’s gratitude to GSS for continuously producing quality, reliable, and robust data to inform public and private policy making and research. He stated the Ministry was very interested in such quarterly labour statistics as it provided data to support the implementation of their mandate to ensure decent work for all in Ghana. He added that such data is crucial if the country wants to enhance the welfare of workers. He noted that the production of such data for policy making is in line with the country’s aim to achieve the SDGs particularly SDG 8 on decent work and productive employment, the AU Agenda 2063, and the Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies, 2017-2024: An Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity For All. He concluded with the hope that all stakeholders would continue to collaborate with GSS in carrying out their mandate. The Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) is the first nationally representative high-frequency household panel survey in Ghana. It is being conducted to obtain quarterly and annual data on household final consumption expenditure and a wide range of demographic, economic, and welfare variables including statistics on labour, food security, multidimensional poverty, and health status for research, planning, and policy-making.