Ghana Statistical Service has released the Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) report.
AHIES is the first nationally representative survey in Ghana which aims at giving gov’t a glimpse of our living conditions.
The release of the Quarterly Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) dwells on three SDGs, SDG 1 which is on no poverty, SDG 2 which is zero hunger and SDG 8 which is decent work and economic growth. The survey was conducted for 10,800 households in 600 areas.
The report presented by Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim revealed that about 380,000 (15 years and older) in the labour force are triple burdened (i.e. they are simultaneously food insecure, multidimensionally poor, and unemployed).
The statistics also revealed that between the first and second quarters of 2022, food insecurity dropped by 7.0 percentage points while multidimensional poverty dropped by 2.6%. The unemployment rate increased by 0.5 percentage points.
The findings indicated that about 390,000 persons 15 years and older unemployed in quarter 1 remained unemployed in quarter 2 of 2022 while between the first and second quarters of 2022, about 445,000 persons 15 years and older outside the labour force joined the number of unemployed persons.
The labour statistics also indicated that about two-thirds of the employed population is engaged in vulnerable employment with significant variation across urban areas (56.4%) and rural (80%).
The report also highlighted gender inequalities in the labour force indicating that the unadjusted gender pay gap in Q1 is 37.3 percent, with males earning a mean hourly pay of GH¢11.00 and females GH¢6.90. Other highlights from the release indicated that 49.1% of persons in Ghana are moderately food insecure, 12.3% are severely food insecure and 44.1% are multidimensionally poor.
Health insurance coverage is the leading contributor to multidimensional poverty with about 14 million persons in Ghana not currently having active health insurance coverage.
Professor Kwaku Appiah-Adu, Senior Advisor to the Vice President who chaired the event in his remarks commended the Ghana Statistical Service for conducting the AHIES which is generating timely and relevant data for policy and planning.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com | Celestina Damoah