Set up office for labour statistics - Oppong Nkrumah tells new Labour Minister

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency in the Eastern Region, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called on the Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment, Abdul-Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, to prioritise the establishment of an independent office for labour statistics in Ghana.  

He said the absence of a centralised body responsible for collecting and publishing employment data had led to inconsistencies in job creation figures from successive governments.

He made these remarks during a parliamentary debate ahead of the House’s approval of Mr Pelpuo’s nomination.  

“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,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah stated.

“In the US, for example, they have the Bureau of Labour Statistics that captures the data and publishes reports on a monthly basis,” he said.  

Job statistics

The MP mentioned the struggles by previous governments with job statistics, stating that former President J.A. Kufour’s administration attempted a job registration exercise that was unsuccessful, while the late President J.E.A. Mills’s administration once announcing 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,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah observed.

“I’m raising this because it’s a lesson that as a Republic we must learn, and it will serve the new Employment and Labour Minister well if he pays attention to something like creating an office of employment statistics or labour statistics in Ghana,” he added.

Transparency

The legislator 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, the former Minister of Works and Housing also urged Mr 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 behoves on 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.  

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said job creation efforts should not be driven solely by government announcements, but rather by deliberate policies that supported 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.