1.1 million Ghanaian males jobless in second quarter of 2022 – GSS

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says about 1.1 million males, 15 years and older, employed in the first quarter of the year, were either unemployed (429,607) or out of the labour force (716,030) in the second quarter.

In percentage terms, the Service said 9.4 per cent of employed males in the first quarter were unemployed in the second quarter with an additional 15.7 per cent outside of the labour force.

The statistics, the GSS said, were generated from the 2022 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) to mark International Men’s Day, commemorated under the theme: “Helping Men and Boys”.

In the Upper East Region, seven out of every ten (69.0 per cent) males employed in the first quarter were no longer employed in the second quarter.

That is the highest rate in the country distantly followed by the North East Region (43.9 per cent).

Mean hourly earnings for males in the second quarter was GH¢9.9, falling slightly from GH¢11.0 in the first quarter.

The AHIES 2022 first and second quarters Report estimates that 600,893 males 15 to 24 years were not in education, employment or training in the second quarter, an increase of over 100,000 from the 463,260 recorded in the first quarter.

Data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census further indicates that 3,335,604 males 15 years and older are not literate.

It said six years and older males did not use an ICT device in the three months preceding Census Night from April to June 2021.

The Savannah (42.7 per cent) and North East (41.3 per cent) regions have the highest proportion of males not using ICT with figures about twice the national average