A new report by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has revealed that even though there are employment opportunities in Ghana it is not enough to absorb the growing number of people actively looking for work.

The report, titled, “National Report on Productivity, Employment, and Growth”, revealed that the employment rate, which measures the economy’s labour absorption capacity, has declined from 73.9 percent to 55.7 percent between 2000 and 2021.

“This suggests that even though the Ghanaian economy is creating employment opportunities, this is not sufficient to absorb the growing working age population”, it said.

According to the report, in 2000, a total of 7.43 million people were employed and this increased to 10.2 million in 2010, representing 3.3 percent annual employment growth over the period.

“In 2021, about 9.99 million people were employed. This represents a reduction of employment of 0.7% annual average from 2010”.

Despite the reduction, the GSS pointed out that there are more people looking for decent jobs but are unsuccessful.

“Decent work is productive work for women and men in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. The concept of decent work is anchored on four key pillars, namely, productive employment, social dialogue, rights at work and social protection”, it said.

It added that one key element of decent work is the availability of employment opportunities for a growing working age population.