Ghana’s Labour Market Grows in 2025, But Youth Unemployment Remains High
Trading on the street of Accra captured by Langford Kwabena on Unsplash.
Accra, Ghana- Accra is increasingly seeing university graduates turn to small businesses or take on any available work just to make ends meet. Many young Ghanaians are employed, but often not in the fields they trained for and without the job security they expected from higher education.
This reality reflects a labour market that is expanding but uneven, according to a new Labour Statistics Factsheet released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). The report, which covers the first three quarters of 2025, shows that while employment has increased, unemployment remains high among young people, particularly in urban areas.
GSS data shows that more than 15 million people were part of Ghana’s labour force across the first three quarters of 2025. By the third quarter, over 330,000 additional people were employed compared to the first quarter, pointing to steady job growth. Employment was consistently higher among women, with over 7.2 million females employed, compared to about 6 million males across all three quarters.
Urban areas continued to record more employment than rural areas, with the widest gap in the second quarter, when urban employment exceeded rural employment by about 1.49 million people.
Despite the increase in jobs, unemployment remains a concern. The national unemployment rate averaged 12.8 percent over the first three quarters of the year, rising slightly to 13.0 percent in the third quarter. Women were more affected than men. The data shows that female unemployment was consistently higher, with an average gap of 3.7 percentage points compared to male unemployment in each quarter. Urban unemployment was also significantly higher, averaging 15.1 percent, compared to 9.6 percent in rural areas, a difference of 5.5 percentage points.
For young Ghanaians, the situation is more difficult. GSS reports that youth unemployment remains far above the national average. Among people aged 15–24, unemployment averaged 32.5 percent, while those aged 15–35 recorded an average of 21.9 percent in the second and third quarters. In the third quarter alone about 1.34 million people aged 15–24 (21.5 percent) and 1.95 million people aged 15–35 (19.5 percent) were not in education, employment, or training (NEET), a sign of deep challenges facing young people trying to enter the workforce.
The report also highlights challenges inside the workplace. In the second and third quarters, 53.8 percent of workers said their skills were fully used in their jobs. However, by the third quarter, about one in five workers (20.9 percent) reported that their skills were only partly used, with higher rates among women and rural workers. On working hours, 46.5 percent of workers who were not currently on shift work said they would be interested in it, especially men (53.6 percent) and rural workers (51.7 percent). Another 14 percent said they might consider shift work depending on conditions.
Taken together, the figures paint a picture of a labour market that is expanding, but still unequal and under strain, particularly for young people and women.
The GSS report suggests that while employment growth is encouraging, addressing youth unemployment, skills mismatch, and urban job pressure will be critical if the labour market is to deliver meaningful opportunities for all.
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