Only 1.5 million Ghanaians are in decent jobs – TUC

Out of Ghana’s 13 million working population, only 1.5 million are in what can be described as decent jobs, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said at a preliminary forum held towards the May Day celebration.

The forum sought to find ways o address the unemployment rates in Ghana and demanded that government should create decent jobs for its teeming youth

Dr Yaw Baah, the General Secretary of the TUC, noted that the greatest challenge facing the country is the unavailability of decent jobs.

“We don’t need just jobs but decent jobs to get us out of poverty and we can only get out of poverty by creating decent jobs for our people,” he said.

He added that job creation should not only be based in Kumasi, Takoradi and Accra but should rather be spread across the country.

He said Ghanaians in the working population fall into different categories: They categories are:Those with no jobs and actively searching for one, those with bad jobs and those in decent jobs.

Baah indicated that the latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service shows that about 1.2 to 1.5 million people in Ghana are unemployed out of the 13 million working population between the ages of 15 and 60 years.

Kwabena Nyarko-Otoo, the Director of Labour Policy and Research Institute, TUC in his presentation said the country has the intention to create decent jobs but the policy frame work to back it is simply unavailable.

“This has to change and the surest and most productive way to mobilize Ghanaians for the future of the country is to put them into decent, productive, fair pay, adequate income and protective jobs.”

The forum was themed, “Ghana@60: Mobilizing for Ghana’s Future through the Creation of Decent Jobs.

Meanwhile, the Youth Inclusive Entrepreneurial Development Initiative Employment (YIEDIE) in November 2016, cited Ghana as the country with the highest youth unemployment rates in the world with 30 per cent unemployed youth.

By Pamela Ofori-Boateng