The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has raised concerns over Ghana’s employment situation, describing the country’s recent economic growth as largely “jobless” due to its limited impact on job creation.

The concerns were contained in the NDPC’s 2022–2025 Annual Progress Report, which assesses the implementation of national development policies and programmes and evaluates whether government interventions are improving the well-being of citizens.

According to the commission, while the economy recorded growth during the period under review, the industrial sector, which is expected to play a major role in driving job creation, underperformed. As a result, employment growth falls short of expectations despite the country’s strong economic performance.

Presenting the findings on Thursday, July 16, Chief Analyst at the NDPC Isaac Kwesi Eweh said the data showed that Ghana’s economic growth had not been accompanied by the kind of structural transformation needed to create more jobs.

“The data shows that it didn't work. So the growth we are seeing, 6.0, it's actually a jobless growth,” he said.

Mr Eweh said the performance of the industrial sector remained a major concern, noting that the sector contracted in some years within the period under review, with only limited improvement recorded afterwards.

“Look at the performance of industry. It actually contracted in 2021, contracted in 2023, just some slight expansion,” he said.

He explained that the industrial sector only recorded significant improvement in 2024, largely due to the contribution of gold and activities within the mining and quarrying subsector.

“The only time that industry did well was in 2024 because of the contribution of gold and the mining and quarry sub-sector of the economy,” he noted.

However, Mr Eweh said the improvement was not broad-based, as most other areas within the industrial sector continued to perform poorly.

“Last year, it was only gold that improved a little. All the others in that category of sub-sector performed poorly,” he added.

According to him, the limited growth recorded in other industrial activities affected the country’s employment prospects, as industries that should have expanded and absorbed more workers failed to reach their expected levels.

“That’s the reason why we recorded 2.3. But if this were to grow as expected, then your question, the issue of unemployment, would also be affected,” he said.

Mr Eweh stressed that a stronger-performing industrial sector would have created more opportunities for young people seeking employment.

“The more jobs that are in the system, the more these youths will be absorbed to work,” he explained.

He, however, noted that Ghana’s growth pattern over the period did not support the expansion of employment opportunities.

“But unfortunately, we didn't grow that way. We grew differently. That's the issue,” he said.

The NDPC’s assessment highlights the challenge of ensuring that economic growth translates into improved livelihoods, with job creation remaining a key measure of the impact of national development efforts.