GSS’ data on 1.76m unemployed persons alarming – Economist

Economics lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor William Baah-Boateng, says the data on persons unemployed in the country is alarming.

Data from the Ghana Statistical Service indicated that about 1.76 million persons were unemployed by the third quarter of 2022.

The report further indicated that two out of every 3 persons employed during the period were in vulnerable employment.

Sharing his view on the statistics in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News, Prof. Baah-Boateng said, “The figure is higher than what is expected. For me, the 1.76 million figure is supposed to be alarming, it’s not small.”

He added that, the figure could guide policymakers to address the issue of unemployment.

He charged the Akufo-Addo government to put measures in place to absolve the teeming unemployed graduates.

“As a country, we have not sat down to look at the causes of unemployment. It’s recent that GSS has up its game so high by providing accurate data on unemployment to be able to inform policies. To be able to solve unemployment, we need to look at it from the demand and supply sides. On the supply side, we are doing well because many people are going to school”.

“There are issues that government needs to look at, people are getting out of schools so early that the labour market is not prepared for them. We need to prepare the labour market for them so that when they come out, they will be able to get something to do. There should be policies that will get the demand side to work, by being able to create employment opportunities for people. Government has a role in employing people,” the economist opined.

He further urged government to create an enabling environment for the private sector to also offer jobs to the unemployed.

“Government should be able to create an enabling environment, so the private sector can take advantage of that to reduce unemployment to the barest minimum,” he advised.