The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency in the Eastern Region, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called on the newly appointed Minister for Labour, Jobs, and Employment, Dr. Abdul-Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, to prioritize the establishment of an independent office for labour statistics in Ghana.
According to him, the absence of a centralised body responsible for collecting and publishing employment data has led to inconsistencies in job creation figures from successive governments.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah made these remarks during a parliamentary debate ahead of the approval of Dr. Pelpuo for the ministerial appointment.
“One thing that, over the years, as a republic, we have failed in is having an independent body that can put together statistics on jobs.
“In the US, for example, they have the Bureau of Labor Statistics that captures the data and publishes reports on a monthly basis,” Mr. Oppong Nkrumah stated.
He recalled previous governments’ struggles with job statistics, noting that former President Kufuor’s administration attempted a job registration exercise that was unsuccessful, while the late President Mills’ administration once announced the creation of 1.6 million jobs, which later proved difficult to verify.
Similarly, he cited the Akufo-Addo administration’s reliance on Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) data, which pegged job creation at 2.6 million.
“It was a matter of public debate. I’m raising this because it’s a lesson that as a republic we must learn, and it will serve the new Employment and Labor Minister well if he pays attention to something like creating an office of employment statistics or labor statistics in Ghana,” he added.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah, former minister for Information as well as Works and Housing, argued that such an institution would ensure transparency and provide reliable data that could be agreed upon by policymakers, economic analysts, and the general public.
Beyond labour statistics, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah also urged Dr. Pelpuo to focus on policies that would empower the private sector to drive employment growth.
“Jobs are created mostly in the private sector than the public sector, and so it will behove him to liaise with his colleagues in the economic sectors so that they can create the enabling environment for the private sector to create their jobs,” he advised.
According to Mr. Oppong Nkrumah, job creation efforts should not be driven solely by government announcements but rather by deliberate policies that support private enterprises.
“The lesson that we have learned, which we will share with them, is that it will be better if attention is paid to assisting the economic sector ministers so that they create the environment that allows the private sector to create jobs,” he noted.
Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama swore into office, Dr. Pelpuo and other 16 new Ministers to take up key roles in his administration.
The President charged them to remain focused on delivering policies and programmes that will improve the lives of Ghanaians.
