Story: Yaw Takyi

Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wereko-Brobby, says the unemployment rate cited in the Ghana Statistical Service’s (GSS) labour statistics report is not as bad as it looks.

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.

Reacting to the report, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations called on Ghanaians not to dwell on the negatives adding that out of the 30 million population, 11 million people are in gainful employment.

He allayed fears that government has lost the fight against unemployment indicating that government has put in interventions to curtail the situation.

“The report comes to us, we digest it, and we are able to improve upon the existing ones that we have received. So these are things that we must look at, the picture is not that bad. The government has put in place interventions to ensure that people are employed. These are things that we must not lose sight of. Let’s not dwell so much on figures, no I will not go for that. Out of the 30 million population, 11 million are working and that is positive,” Wereko-Brobby noted.

The Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations observed that majority of Ghanaians in the job space do not regard the activities they engage in as jobs.

“A lot is happening in the informal sector. Here in our part of the world, we don’t see what we do as jobs and that is the problem. Check the interventions government is making through the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA), a lot of jobs are being created in the informal sector, go to cooperative and agric sectors, a lot is happening there. People are being mobilised beyond even the jobs they do there, they create funds on their own. Come to the Youth Employment Agency there are lots of jobs created for the youth. All is not lost at all,” he reiterated.