More than one million Ghana youth not in education, employment – Survey
A survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has shown that 1.8 million youth, representing 28.8 per cent within 15-24 years, are not in education, employment or training, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, has said.
Prof Annim said the situation was worrying and urged the Government to identify these individuals and meet their needs to curb the unemployment 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 level of unemployment in the country.
These persons, according to the report, were people who were either sick and in school or on retirement.
He, however, said that the report indicated an unemployment rate increase from 13.4 per cent to 13.9 per cent, a situation that implied a higher employment rate of 86.6 per cent and 86.1 per cent respectively for the two quarters.
Prof Annim explained that the high rate of employment was as a result of people who were in vulnerable employment, constituting 67 per cent while 24 per cent of persons had secured employment.
Prof Annim said these vulnerable groups were either working without employees or contributing family workers.
He said the GSS was going to engage with labour economists to understand the dynamics of the report holistically, and to aid in policy formulation for the country.
Prof Kwaku Appiah-Adu, Director, Monitoring and evaluation and Public Enterprises, Office of the Vice President, said the report was necessary for policy formulation for the Government and all other institutions to help deliver on the needs of the people.
He commended the Government Statistician and the GSS team for the opportunity to share the findings of the AHIES report, adding that the Government would put the findings of the report into good use.
Prof Appiah-Adu said the data and statistical information provided the measurement of national development in order to improve the living standards of the people.
The report, he stated, when presented to the Office of the Presidency would go a long way to impact on economic and social development policies.
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.
Source: GNA