1.5m youth unemployed –GSS Report

The Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 Third Quarter Labour Statistics Report, highlights that more than half of the youth not engaged in education, employment, or training are located in the Accra (312,394), Ashanti (300,161), Eastern (131,341), and Central (129,182) regions. In 13 out of the 16 regions, more than 20% of young persons aged 15 to 24 were not in education, employment, or training.

The Eastern Region had the highest proportion of youth at 30.0%, which is approximately twice the figure of the Bono Region at 14.5%, which has the lowest proportion. According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census, 11.1% of persons aged 15 to 24, representing 1.4 million young individuals, never attended school. Among this age group, a slightly higher percentage of females (12.0%) never attended school compared to males (10.2%). The regions with the highest proportions of young persons who never attended school were the Savannah (43.4%), North East (36.8%), Northern (33.3%), Upper West (20.9%), and Oti (20.7%) regions. Combined, these five regions accounted for almost half (665,508) of the young individuals who never attended school.

The unemployment rate for young persons aged 15 to 24, as recorded during the census, was 32.8%, with a higher rate for females (36.7%) compared to males (29.3%).