The Acting Director, Communication and Dissemination at the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Mr Johnson Owusu Kagya has appealed to the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) and other related institutions to address the challenges associated with 380,000 Ghanaians who are triple burdened.
The GSS 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).
This was revealed in the Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) report.
According to the GSS, 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% and 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 was the leading contributor to multidimensional poverty with about 14 million persons in Ghana not currently having active health insurance coverage.
Read Also: 380,000 Ghanaians are “multidimensionally poor and unemployed”
Speaking on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie, Mr Johnson Owusu Kagya noted that the 380,000 who were triple burdened were sampled from about 12 million Ghanaians who were 15 years and older.
That, he said formed about 3.8 per cent of the samples and not entirely the whole population which is about 30.8 million.
He explained that the survey was mostly based on the youth, adding that children under 15 and older people were not part of the samples.
Despite the percentage, he expressed hope that the Ministries responsible will be informed by the survey, sit down and deliberate on possible best ways to address them.
Meanwhile, he said the survey was still ongoing, adding that it will be completed in 2023.
“The research is to inform policy makers too do something about the narrative. So the Employment Ministry, Gender Ministry and other Institutions can meet and think about this and know best ways to address the challenge,” he said.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
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