A new survey by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has found that two out of every three females in Ghana are unemployed.

These findings were revealed in the GSS’ annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey covering the period 2022.

In all, over 1.7 million Ghanaians are unemployed with some unable to find jobs, unable to find food to eat, and are multi-dimensionally poor.

“At any point in time, 1.7 million persons are unemployed in Ghana. These are predominantly females, specifically two out of every three,” he said on Wednesday.

He further explained that nearly 160,000 persons have consistently remained unemployed in the first three quarters of 2022.

Government statistician, Prof Samuel Kobina Annim who revealed the findings of the survey said the outcome should help policymakers make informed decisions to address the problem.

“Our goal as the Statistical Service is to point policymakers to what we think or how we target these issues. So it is not just the fact that we put out the statistic that about a quarter of our youth are unemployed, we are providing further information on where you can maximize your gains. If you decide to deal with it,” he added.

For the youth, the outcome is disturbing with a sizable number not in school, not in training and also unemployed.

He urged stakeholders to take advantage fo the report to re-evaluate its approach towards the job creation agenda.

“So we interrogate the data and tell the policymaker that it picks up a 21. So most of our youth at age 21 that is where you don’t find them doing any of these three things.

“And that is where you can maximize your returns rather than tagging the age bracket 30 to 35.

“So if you really want to maximize your gains in addressing the issue, then target age 21 And if you think about this carefully, it coincides with the transition from school to work.”