Two-thirds of the employed population in Ghana are engaged in vulnerable employment, a report from the Ghana Statistical Service has revealed.

Also, about 1.8 million persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years are not in education, employment or training (NEET).

The finding of the report dubbed “Ghana 2022 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES)” also indicated that about 390,000 persons 15 years and older unemployed in quarter 1 remained unemployed in quarter 2 of 2022 while between the first and second quarters of 2022, about 445,000 persons 15 years and older outside the labour force joined the number of unemployed persons.

The labour statistics also indicated that about two-thirds of the employed population is engaged in vulnerable employment with significant variation across urban areas (56.4%) and rural (80%).

The report also highlighted gender inequalities in the labour force indicating that unadjusted gender pay gap in the first quarter of 2022 is 37.3%, with males earning a mean hourly pay of ¢11.00 and females ¢6.90.

Furthermore, about 390,000 persons 15 years and older unemployed in quarter 1 remain unemployed in quarter 2 of 2022.

Similarly, between the first and second quarters of 2022, about 445,000 persons 15 years and older outside the labour force join the number of unemployed persons.

Likewise, close to 850,000 persons 15 years and older employed in quarter 1 transitioned to unemployment status in quarter 2 while more than 500,000 unemployed persons gain employment over the same period.

44.1% Ghanaians multidimensionally poor

The survey revealed that 44.1 % of persons are multidimensionally poor in first quarter against 46.7% in second quarter of 2022.

On average the poor individual is deprived in 47.3% of weighted indicators in the first quarter and 46.6% in the second

The Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) is the first nationally representative high-frequency household panel survey in Ghana.

The AHIES is conducted to obtain quarterly and annual data on household final consumption expenditure and a wide scope of demographic, economic and welfare variables including statistics on labour, food security, multidimensional poverty and health status for research, policy, and planning.