GSS to release quarterly unemployment figures in 2022
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has revealed that, it will be releasing unemployment data every quarter starting next year.
The move is expected to give policy makers and private sector the relevant data to help in recruitment and planning.
Government’s statistician, Professor Samuel Kwabena Anim, noted that with regards to the rebasing of the country’s GDP, data will help in giving the opportunity to touch on key microeconomic indicators such as unemployment and poverty indicators.
He also added that the census conducted during the year revealed natural unemployment figures of 13.4%. Also, recorded unemployment rate among the younger youth – between the ages of 15 to 24 – is about 32.8% and 19.2% for ages between 15 and 35.
“All that I have talked about the rebasing of the GDP, the AHIS will give us an opportunity to touch on other key microeconomic indicators, one of which is unemployment, another is poverty indicators.
“The census has brought to the floor unemployment figures, 13.4 natural unemployment, and when you think about it from the perspective of the youth, it is 32.8%, that is the younger youth from ages 15 to 24. And when you stretch the youth, from 15 to 35 years is 19.2%”, he said.
Professor Samuel stressed that particular importance will be given to quarterly release of unemployment figures in the coming year. Adding that the GSS, will do internal validation, which is the 13.4 percent figure obtained from the national census and will be inherently benchmarked with the figures that the AHIS will release in April next year.
“What the AHIS is going to do for us, which I’m urging all of you to take particular importance to this exercise is have a quarterly release of unemployment figures. What this means is that, within GSS, we will be doing internal validation. This 13.4 that we’ve put out there, in April if AHIS is to release the unemployment figure, we would inherently benchmark it with the census figure”, he added.
