The government of Ghana has said that it has created over one million jobs as it defends its promise to fix the high rate of unemployment in the West African nation.
The country’s minister for labour and employment, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah on Tuesday said the job creation “happened within the formal economy. So what happened within the informal economy is not even accounted for here.”
The government has been questioned about its track records in creating jobs with the country’s President, Nana Akufo Addo in the past failing to provide figures on the number of jobs created.
Another senior official of the Ghana labour ministry Bright Wereko Brobbey told Starr FM “We went to the various Ministries and Agencies and confirmed from the Controller and Accountants General Office and SSNIT to gather information on those who have been employed in the Public Sector so far.”
“In the area of the Ministry of Interior, we have a total of 3500 people employed, for Works and Housing, 4039 people have been employed. For the Agric Sector, the Ministry has employed 745,000 people,” Brobbey further said.
But critics of the government have said that these jobs have not been created in the private sector and have cast doubt over the figures.
Ghana’s Labour Force Survey report released in 2017 estimates that more than 1.2 million Ghanaians from 15 years and older are estimated to be unemployed. That represents the total unemployment rate of 11.9 percent.
The Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo Addo on Tuesday also launched a major program meant to employ one hundred thousand youth this year.
There have been reactions to the latest news of 1 million jobs created.
So the government created about 1100000 jobs and I’m still unemployed.
Where were these jobs advertised in the first place. Eeii Mother Ghana. These politicians erh, they always need to swear by idols— ?Ewe Goddess? (@awo_edith) May 2, 2018
Is it something new for government to creat jobs for Ghanaians?Naive politicians in Ghana
— B kintor (@KintorB) May 2, 2018
Source: Africafeeds.com