Ghana’s job market is gradually recovering from disruptions of the Coronavirus.

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in its Covid-19 Households and Jobs Tracker Survey Report revealed that about 22 million Ghanaians, out of the projected 31 million population experienced a drop in income since Covid-19 restrictions were introduced.

The gravity of this income-impact exposes how 77.4% of households in Ghana have had their income declined or dissipated amid furloughs.

The trickledown effect has been a dip in pension contributions to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

For a medium to long term strategy, Director General of SSNIT, Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang, has disclosed an aggressive roadshow to deepen Ghana’s already waning pension’s penetration.

Speaking to Joy Business, Charles Ayitey, Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang hinted at strategic retooling operations that SSNIT will also employ to shore up its baseline.

“Covid has disrupted the business environment and SSNIT has not been spared. All we do is that, when people get paid salaries, then a percentage comes to us, to the extent that people are losing their jobs, and business is slow and salaries are going down, there is a direct translation into the amount of revenue that we are able to mobilize but the thing for SSNIT is that we have a contract. Our scheme is a defined benefit scheme. . 

Our priority is for an aggressive campaign to let Ghanaians know that no matter the work you do, you can avail yourself to this fantastic pension scheme the state has rolled out. One way to do that is to give them the necessary electronic tools to make them SSNIT-ready,” he stated.

Merger of SSNIT/Ghana Card

On assessment of the rollout of the Ghana Card merger with the SSNIT Card, Dr. Tenkorang believes it has been progressive. 

He believes the merger will not only automate operations of SSNIT but save the Trust millions of dollars from having to procure and issue its own cards – which no longer is the case.

“We started the rollout of the merging of the Ghana Card with the SSNIT Card last Monday and I must say that so far, it’s been quite successful, the uptake is good, a lot of people are coming through their phones to do the merger, others the website and very few coming to our branches.”

“The first thing people will realize is convenience. The law will ensure you have a Ghana Card to do all the business you want to do. Hitherto we were issuing our own cards which were very expensive. Now the state is issuing that card – taking on that responsibility – is going to help us shed off a part of our operations which is cost effective and will help us save thousands of millions of dollars,” he disclosed.