Include labour statistics in dev’t planning - Expert
Labour statisticians are worried about the lack of usage of labour statistics in crafting the country’s development programmes.
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According to the Assistant Chief Labour Officer at the National Labour Department (NLD), Mr Anthony Awotwe, the country’s development could be boosted if governments paid closer attention to the use of data in charting the country’s development path.
Data from the NLD shows that 5,334 persons out of a total of 39,790 that looked for employment through the department were engaged or placed nationwide between 2015 and 2016.
An industrial distribution of vacancies by sectors revealed that 2,321 persons gained employment in 2016, out of 16,219 and 3013 in 2015 out of 23,571 in the following sectors; agriculture, forestry and fishing; mining and quarrying, manufacturing; electricity, gas and water; construction; wholesale and retail trade (including hotels and restaurants); in transport, storage and communication; in insurance, real estate and business services; and in community, social and personal services.
Mr Awotwe, who is also the Officer in charge at the Employment Information Branch of the NLD, under the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, in an interview in Accra on July 28, 2017, said anything that governments or institutions wanted they could plan on the basis of labour statistics.
He said in dealing with the unemployment situation in the country for instance, a look at the labour data / information would help to know the number of people who were unemployed and with some particular skills in some particular areas and which could even help set up businesses there.
“For instance, if you are looking at the agriculture sector and you realise that people with agric skills are in Brong Ahafo, then more can go there and establish there,” he said.
He spoke to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on the concepts and benefits of labour statistics to socio-economic development.
In Ghana, the NLD has a responsibility to register applicants and assist them to look for employment through its 64 public employment centres nationwide.
Mr Awotwe disclosed that the private sector in 2015 contributed 2,894 to vacancies filled, local authority four and public boards and corporations 115, while the central government did not record anything.
He explained that an application for employment through the NLD lapses after a period of three months if the applicant fails to re-register.
“Therefore, the 13,898 persons in 2016 and 20,558 in 2015 that remained unemployed at the end of the periods is assumed that the persons were no longer interested, have gained employment, have travelled outside the country or were dead and so didn’t renew their applications for employment” he said.
He added that these unemployed persons comprised those who were actually unemployed and are looking for employment or people who are employed but they consider themselves as underemployed.
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Unemployed by age group
Also, data from the NLD shows that a total of 3,569 persons aged 15-19 remained unemployed between 2015 and 2016.
The rest are 20-24 years 13912, 25-44 years 1,6251, 45-54 years 716 and 55-59 years eight for only 2015.
Mr Awotwe deduced that if data showed that people aged 25-44 were unemployed and unskillful, then it meant that age bracket did not start well.
“So at a point in time if the figure is huge, it means Ghana will suffer in the next number of years because there are some people without skills who we cannot go back to train, they are out of school already and it will be drag on the nation because of their age bracket and we are in for trouble,” he explained.
Labour statistics (LS)
It comprises a range of issues including the economically active population, statistics of employment, unemployment and underemployment; average earnings and hours of work; wage structures and distributions among others.
Yet, most developing countries including Ghana do not seem to take seriously such labour data, let alone apply the numbers to achieve their development goals.
Uses of LS
Mr Awotwe said the information that was provided helped immensely in making policy decisions such as the role of the educational system in providing basic skills and pre-requisite to vocational training.
“It does a lot of things including to ensure that training at the various educational levels is related to the needs of employment,” he said.
