Economic Activity
The Economic Activity report presents statistics on the size and components of the labour force, the population outside the labour force, the employed population, the unemployed population, main occupation, main industry, employment sector, and employment status. These statistics are disaggregated by sex, region, broad age groups, and type of locality.
Table of contents:
Highlights
Economically Active Population
The labour force, which is the economically active population, is 11,541,355 (employed, 9,990,237 and unemployed, 1,551,118), representing 58.1 percent of persons 15 years and older.
Figure 1: Proportion of population 15 years and older by economic activity status and type of locality
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
Economic activity among males (63.5%) is substantially higher than that of their female (53.0%) counterparts, with a more pronounced variation between males, (63.6%) and females (51.5%) in rural areas.
Figure 2: Proportion of Econimically Active Persons 15 years and Older by Type of Locality and Sex
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
Employment
About three-quarters of the employed population 15 years and older are engaged in skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery (32.0%), services and sales (26.5%) and craft and related trades (16.1%), with a higher representation among females (81.3%) than males (68.9%).
Professionals constitute less than a tenth (8.4%, 837,989) of employed persons 15 years and older of which four in five are in urban areas, and three in five are youth (15-35 years).
Only about seven percent of employed persons 15 years and older are self-employed with employees compared to 60 percent for those without employees.
Unemployment
About half a million persons 15 years and older are first time job seekers with almost equal numbers of males and females
Figure 3: Population 15 Years and Older available and Seeking Work by Sex
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
More than two in five (45.5%) unemployed persons 15 years and older are available for work but not seeking for employment of which the youth (15-35 years) constitute two-thirds (65.8%)
Unemployment rate among the population 15 years and older is 13.4 percent and is higher for females (15.5%) than males (11.6%). Among the population 15-35 years, unemployment rate is 19.7 percent, and is even much higher for young adults 15-24 years (32.8%).
Across all the three age brackets (15-24 years, 15-35 years, and 15 years and older), unemployment rate is higher in urban than rural areas.
Oti Region has the lowest unemployment rate across all the three age brackets: 15-24 years (14.9%), 15-35 years (9.4%), and 15 years and older (6.7%). Savannah Region has the highest rate in two age brackets: 15-35 years (28.4%) and 15 years and older (22.4%); while Upper East Region has the highest rate in the 15-24 age group (39.0%).
Economically active children
Close to 230,000 (3.2%) children (5-14 years) are engaged in economic activity with a substantially higher proportion in rural areas (5.7%) compared to urban (1.0%).
Involvement of children in economic activity in Oti Region (20.8%) is more than six times the national figure (3.2%) and is also prominent in five other regions: North East (11.4%), Savannah (9.9%), Upper West (9.3%), Northern (8.6%) and Upper East (6.1%).
Figure 4: Proportion of Population 5-14 years in Economic Activity by Sex and Region
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Census Report
Among children aged 5-14 years engaged in economic activity, almost 80 percent are involved in agriculture-related activities with the highest proportion in Savannah (89.8%) and the least in Greater Accra (26.2%).
In Greater Accra Region, children’s involvement in economic activity is predominantly in service and sales (42.6%).
Background Information
Download the full report for information on methodology and data quality.
Definition of Concepts
Economically Active Population (Labour Force)
The economically active population comprises persons aged 5 years and older who were employed or unemployed seven days preceding the Census Night.
Employed Person
Employed person refers to a person 15 years or older who in the seven days prior to the Census Night was engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services in exchange for pay or profit.
Employed persons include those who in the reference period:
- Worked at least one hour in their paid job or business activity, including self-employment;
- Was engaged in a family business for payment in cash or in kind; or
- Had a paid job or business activity but were on temporary absence due to factors such as illness, personal or family responsibilities, vacation, etc. and would go back to this job after the period of absence.
Unemployed Person
It refers to a person 15 years or older who, in the seven days prior to the Census Night:
- Did not work or did not have work to go to; and
- Was available to work.
Population not in the Labour Force
It refers to persons 5 years and older who did not work and were not seeking for work 7 days prior to the Census Night. Examples are home makers, retired persons and those with a disability condition.
Paid Employment
Paid employment refers to a situation in which economically active persons who, during the seven days preceding the Census Night, performed some work for wage or salary in cash or in kind for at least one hour. It also includes persons who were temporarily not at work during the seven days preceding the Census Night but had work to return to.
Self-Employment
Self-employment refers to a situation in which persons operate their own enterprise (e.g., a farmer, kenkey seller, or carpenter); or persons with an enterprise, which may be a business enterprise such as a farm or a service undertaking, who were temporarily not at work during the seven days preceding the Census Night for any specific reason.
Contributing Family Worker
Contributing family worker refers to a person who helps in running an economic enterprise operated by a member of his or her family without payment of wages or salary. Excluded from this category are family members who work for pay – which should be classified as employees.
Employment Status
It refers to the type of explicit or implicit contract of employment with other persons or organisations that the economically active person has in his/her job.
Basic categories of employment status are:
- Employee
- Self-employed without employees
- Self-employed with employees
- Casualworker
- Contributing family worker
- Paid apprentice
- Unpaid apprentice
- Domestic worker
- Other
Employment Sector
Employment sector refers to the legal organisation and principal functions, behaviour, and objectives of the institution or enterprise with which a person is engaged.
Employment sectors are distinguished as:
- Public (Government)
- Semi-Public/Parastatal
- Private Formal
- Private Informal
- Local NGO/CSO
- International NGO/CSO
- Religious Organisation (Local)
- Religious Organisation (International)
- International Organization
Unemployment Rate
The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed persons divided by the labour force which is different from the proportion of the population unemployed which is computed using entire population 15 years and older (within and outside the labour force).
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