A total of 13.3 million out of the 15m labour force in Ghana were employed within the first three quarters of 2025, reducing the country’s unemployment rate from 13.7 in quarter three of 2024 to 12.8 per cent in 2025.

The quarterly labour statistics of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), released on Thursday, noted that the services sector saw the highest rate of employment of 6.1 per cent, followed by agriculture, five per cent and industry, 2.5 per cent.

Across all three quarters of 2025, over 330,000 more persons were employed compared with quarter one, as female employment – 7.2 million – remained consistently higher than their male employment – six million.

In terms of locality, urban areas had the highest levels of employment across all three quarters, with the largest gap observed in quarter two of 2025, where employment in urban areas exceeded that of rural areas by about 1.49 million persons.

Meanwhile, unemployment rate averaged 15.1 per cent in urban areas, which is a 5.5 percentage points higher than the rural average of 9.6 per cent as unemployment was lower in rural areas.

On regional basis, the Western, Central, Accra, and Ashanti regions consistently recorded unemployment rates above the national level of 13 per cent, while the Volta, Bono and Northern regions recorded decline in unemployment rates.

Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu, Government Statistician, speaking exclusively with the Ghana News Agency after the release of the report said transport, insurance, banks dominated employment in the private sector, while public services delivery and education dominated public sector employment.

He recommended to the government to strengthen apprenticeships, and school-to-work transition programmes, improve access to finance for small enterprises, and enhance labour protection in agriculture and rural areas.

He also asked the government to strengthen regional and district-level labour market planning, using quarterly labour force data to target interventions where unemployment, underemployment, and skills mismatches are most severe.

Dr. Iddrisu said expanding training, internships, and apprenticeship opportunities, especially for young people transitioning from school into work was crucial, urging businesses and the private sector to improve job quality and skills utilisation by matching workers to roles that reflect their qualifications and experience.

For households and individuals, he encouraged investment in skills development and lifelong learning, particularly skills that are relevant to growing sectors such as services, digital activities, and modern agriculture.

The Government Statistician said it was also important to gradually formalise self-employment, including record keeping, skills upgrading, and engagement with support programmes.