Job opportunities for Ghanaians decline by more than 13% in Q2

On October 27, 2021, 6:16 AM

The number of job opportunities for Ghanaians, especially the youth, has seen a reduction of 13.9% for the second quarter of 2021, data provided by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in its quarterly bulletin has shown.

This is because the number of jobs advertised in selected print and online media, which gauges labour demand in the economy, declined in the second quarter of 2021 relative to what was observed in the second quarter of 2020.

Figures contained in the second quarterly bulletin indicated that in total, 8,251 job adverts were recorded in the second quarter of 2021 as compared with 9,582 for the second quarter of 2020, translating into a decline of 13.9%.

Similarly, the number of job vacancies advertised in the review period dipped by 6.7% to 8,840 recorded for the first quarter of 2021, the Central Bank observed.

The Bank of Ghana attributed the dip in the number of job opportunities for Ghanaians to the global pandemic, and said, “the decrease in the number of jobs advertised reflected the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses.”

Sector Distribution

The Services Sector maintained its dominance as the leading job-providing sector in the economy, accounting for 79.0% of total job adverts recorded in the second quarter of 2021. This compares with a share of 80.8% it recorded in Q2:2020.

Industry followed with a share of 17.4% (up from 15.2% in Q2:2020), while the Agriculture Sector accounted for 3.6% of the job adverts during the period, compared with 4.0% of total job adverts recorded for Q2:2020.

Skill Set of Job Adverts

Further analysis disclosed that the main requirements for skilled employees were tertiary education qualification (s) and a minimum of three years’ working experience.

This category, classified as Professionals and Technicians, collectively accounted for 51.4% of total jobs advertised during the second quarter of 2021, relative to 49.7% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020.

This was followed by the categories classified as Sales and other Service Workers (30.2% in Q2:2021 vs. 35.5% in Q2:2020), Artisans and Machine Operators (9.0% in Q2:2021 vs. 8.6% in Q2:2020), Secretarial and Clerical Staff (6.9% in Q2:2021 vs. 4.7% in Q2:2020) and ‘Others’ (2.5% in Q2:2021 vs. 1.5% in Q2:2020).

Private Sector Pension Contribution

Despite the decline in the number of job opportunities for Q2, the private sector workers’ contributions to the SSNIT Pension Scheme, which partially gauges employment conditions, saw an improvement.

The Tier-1 increased by 16.2% year-on-year, to GH₵641.15 million in Q2:2021, from GH₵551.59 million collected in Q2:2020. Total contribution in the review period also grew by 10.5% when compared with GH₵580.37 million for Q1:2021.

“The improvement in private workers’ contributions to the Tier-1 pension scheme could be attributed to the registration of new employees as well as improved compliance by private sector employers,” the Bank of Ghana observed.

Story By Francis Ntow