Institute of Progressive Governance (IPG), a policy think tank, has urged former President John Dramani Mahama to refrain from misleading the public by claiming that unemployment rates were better under his administration than they are today.
Citing data from the World Bank and the Ghana Statistical Service, IPG clarified that the current unemployment situation is significantly improved compared to when Mr. Mahama was in office.
IPG referenced the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) criteria for defining unemployment, which applies to individuals aged 15 and above who (i) did not work at all during the reference week, (ii) are available for work, and (iii) are actively seeking employment. This ILO definition, known as the “narrow definition” of unemployment, is intended to allow for accurate comparison of unemployment rates across countries.
The think tank continued, “Unemployment rate is mathematically defined as the total number of the unemployed divided by the labour force and multiplied by 100%. Using this estimation with the data from the World Bank, the unemployment rate increased from 4.9% in 2006 to 5.4% in 2010. While the unemployment rate declined considerably to 2.2% in 2013, it unfortunately went up to 6.8% in 2015, the highest in over a decade!
“Even though President Mahama left the unemployment rate at 5.2% in 2016, the 6.8% unemployment rate registered under him as a president in 2015 still remains the highest since 2005! The average unemployment rate under Mr. Mahama as the president (from 2013 to 2016) is 4.65%!
IPG explained further that the highest unemployment rate under Akufo-Addo was 3.4%, which was recorded in 2017. This rate, however, declined marginally to 3.3% in 2018 and further to 3.2% in 2019 but went up to 3.3% in 2020 and was maintained at 3.3% in 2021 before declining to 3.1% in 2022 and repeating at 3.1% in 2023. Hence, the average unemployment rate in the last seven years (from 2017 to 2023) is 3.24%!
“It is therefore misleading for Mr. John Mahama to tell Ghanaians that unemployment rates recorded under Akufo-Addo are worse than those recorded under him as a president of Ghana. Mr. Mahama’s average unemployment rate of 4.65% is higher than Nana Akuffo Addo’s 3.24%!” IPG opined.
The think tank noted that the Ghana Statistical Service, in its recent surveys, has used a broad unemployment definition to estimate unemployment rates for the country.
“This definition relaxes the ILO’s condition of job chasing. The estimation is reasonable because Ghana’s hugely informal economy does not encourage job seekers to write applications or move from one office to the other in search of jobs. In reality, while many Ghanaian job seekers are not seeking jobs, most of them are available and ready to work.
While this measure provides a close reality to Ghana’s unemployment situation, it cannot be used to compare to the unemployment situations in other countries. It is purely for internal policy purposes, and IPG commends the Ghana Statistical Service for providing such additional information on the unemployment situation in the country,” they stated.
“Indeed, by using the broad measure of the unemployment rate, Ghana’s unemployment rate increased from 13.3% during the first quarter of 2022 to 14.9% in the third quarter of 2023 (see Ghana Statistical Service Report, February 2024, page 6).
“This does not mean that the unemployment rate of 5.2% (a narrow measure in 2016) left by Mr. Mahama is what has increased to 14.9% in 2023! No! That is wrong and misleading! Using the ILO’s measure (narrow measure), Ghana’s unemployment rate has declined from 5.2% in 2016 to 3.1% at the end of the third quarter of 2023,” IPG suggested.
In conclusion, IPG advised the campaign team of NDC to help Mr. John Dramani Mahama understand and appreciate technical issues before going public with them,” they added.
“The world would not take him seriously if he gets such elementary issues wrong!” IPG cautioned.