World Bank Warns Ghana of Mounting Jobs Crisis, Urges Productivity-Led Reforms
The World Bank has cautioned that Ghana risks worsening socioeconomic challenges if urgent measures are not taken to expand productive job opportunities for its growing youth population.
In its 2025 Policy Notes titled “Transforming Ghana in a Generation”, the Bretton Woods institution observed that although public sector jobs remain attractive to job seekers due to wage premiums, the sector can only absorb a limited fraction of the labour force. As a result, most Ghanaians remain trapped in underemployment, largely in agriculture and informal service sector jobs.
The Bank underscored the scale of the challenge, noting that about 500,000 youth enter the labour market annually, with close to seven million expected to join by 2030.
“Despite slower but continued increases in GDP per capita, poverty reduction paused after 2012,” the report stated. Between 2012 and 2016, poverty at the national absolute poverty line dropped only slightly from 24.2% to 23.4%, as growth ceased to be pro-poor. Consumption for the bottom 40% of the population stagnated, with the bottom 10% experiencing a 5% decline.
According to the Bank, the growth elasticity of poverty has weakened significantly, driven by limited job opportunities in high-productivity sectors and a capital-intensive industrialisation model that has curtailed incentives for households to invest in education and skills.
The 2025 National Economic Dialogue has already recognised the urgent need to ‘reset’ the economy, recommending governance and institutional reforms alongside broad macroeconomic, structural, and social policy measures.
The World Bank stressed that the government must focus on medium-term strategies that deliver early wins to consolidate consensus around reforms. Otherwise, Ghana’s current socioeconomic pressures could threaten social cohesion, especially given its youthful demographic.
“The primary focus should be on generating productive and quality jobs. A comprehensive productivity and job strategy is needed to foster a business-friendly environment and encourage private sector investment, thereby creating quality jobs and unlocking the private sector’s potential and competitiveness. At the same time, the current and future workforce needs adequate skill formation, vital to realising the vision of a 24-hour economy,” the Bank added.
