Ghana’s economy is expanding, but much of its workforce is “running on a treadmill”, that is shifting between jobs without significant improvement in income or security.
This is according to the World Bank’s latest Ghana Economic Update.
Between 2012 and 2023, the country added 720,000 jobs in industry and services but shed 470,000 in agriculture. Urban areas absorbed 2.4 million more working-age people, yet real wages fell by 3% over the decade.
The Bank says job creation is lagging behind population growth, youth participation in the workforce is declining, and about one million young Ghanaians now live abroad.
Medium-skilled sectors such as manufacturing, construction and domestic services — typically drivers of upward mobility remain among the slowest growing.
Education’s ability to lift incomes is also waning, with the supply of graduates increasingly outstripping the availability of quality jobs.
Women remain overrepresented in low-productivity roles and continue to face significant pay and opportunity gaps.
With Ghana’s working-age population projected to grow by 4.8 million to 25.3 million in the next decade, the World Bank is calling for bold reforms to attract private investment, raise productivity and create stronger pathways from education to employment.
Without decisive action, the Bank warns, many Ghanaians will keep “working hard but going nowhere.”
