The Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment has launched the Qualifications and skills Mismatches Survey (QSMS) of Persons in Employment.

The survey, which is expected to begin in June, 2025, will be conducted in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service to provide data to improve the labour and employment policies.

QSMS aims to measure mismatches between qualifications, skills, and employment; it will assess how evolving technological disruptions are displacing certain skills, the age-old cry of industry about the lack of requisite skilled labour in certain fields as well as the incapacity of some university graduates to thrive on job market.

Addressing the media at stakeholder forum to launch the survey, Shadrack Mensah, Director for Research, Information and Management at the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment said the findings will revamp the country’s curricula to improve employability and bridge the gap between Academia and the Job Market.

QSMS will also facilitate the production of statistics which will shed more light on the discrepancies between qualifications, skills, and employment for informed decision making.

“There has been a conversation ongoing that the skills that is needed by industries is not what is required. This conversation has been ongoing for a long while but there has not been any data or any scientific proof to determine this,” he said.

The survey is expected to last for 4 months, starting from June 2025. Field enumerators led by the Ghana Statistical Service will visit various cities and towns, sampling information on formal and informal jobs.

“The findings will be shared with the Ghana Education Service. We will collaborate with them to improve the country’s curricula.” Mr. Mensah said.

The survey will be Ghana’s first nationally representative survey to measure gaps across the formal and informal employment sectors, inform policy, align education, and ultimately enhance productivity.

The forum was attended by labour experts, members of the academic community, representatives from the Ministry of Education, Ghana Statistical Service, the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment, and other stakeholders.