The Ghana Statistical Service has revealed that about 1.1 million males 15 years and older who were employed in the first quarter of 2022, subsequently became either unemployed (429,607) or out of the labour force (716,030) in the second quarter.

A statement from GSS indicated that in percentage terms, 9.4% of employed males in the first quarter were unemployed in the second quarter, with an additional 15.7% outside of the labour force.

“In the Upper East Region, seven out of every ten (69%) males employed in the first quarter were no longer employed in the second. Theirs is the highest rate in the country, distantly followed by the North East Region (43.9%).”

These statistics generated from the 2022 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) were released for International Men’s Day, which is being commemorated this year under the theme “Helping Men and Boys”.

“Mean hourly earnings for males in the second quarter was GH¢9.9, falling slightly from GH¢11.0 in the first quarter. The AHIES 2022 Q1 and Q2 Report estimates that 600,893 males 15 to 24 years were not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) in the second quarter, an increase of over 100,000 from the 463,260 recorded in the first quarter.”

Data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census further indicates that 3,335,604 males 15 and older are not literate i.e. cannot read and write with understanding in any language with almost half a million (459,110) boys 4 to 14 years currently not attending school months preceding Census Night i.e. April to June 2021.

The Savannah (42.7%) and North East (41.3%) regions have the highest proportion of males not using ICT, with figures about twice the national average.

The available AHIES 2022 Q1 and Q2 Reports on the Labour Force, Food Insecurity and Multidimensional Poverty can be downloaded from www.statsghana.gov.gh.