Efforts are underway to bridge the widening skills and qualifications mismatch among Ghanaians, resulting in the launch of the country’s first Qualifications and Skills Mismatch Survey (QSMS).
The announcement was made today by Dr. Rashid Pelpuo, Minister for Labour, Jobs and Employment, during a high-level stakeholder engagement held at the Ministry.
Addressing key industry leaders, development partners, and organized labour, Dr. Pelpuo emphasized the urgent need for data-driven solutions to align Ghana’s human capital with the fast-evolving demands of the job market.
“It is worth noting that countries all over the world have been striving to achieve economic growth through the enhancement and proper utilisation of labour to boost productivity. In the past, economies such as Ghana, had capacity to absorb low-skilled people especially in the agricultural sector. However, rapid advancements in knowledge and technology are displacing low-skilled jobs, necessitating an evolution in skills and qualifications,” he said.
The QSMS is poised to be a milestone initiative, delivering nationally representative data on how well current qualifications and skills match the actual requirements across both formal and informal sectors. The findings will not only shape responsive labour policies but also recalibrate the focus of tertiary education and training institutions towards market relevance.
“For every student and individual pursuing training, the ultimate aim is to secure employment that aligns with their qualifications and skills. As demand for tertiary education and skills development grow, we must ensure these investments translate into meaningful opportunities, whether in the formal or the informal sector, where talents are fully utilised and valued,” Dr. Pelpuo noted.
A successful pilot of the survey has already been conducted in Greater Accra, the Northern Region, and the Upper West Region. The minister indicated that insights from the pilot have informed improvements in the survey design, built capacity among field teams, and addressed logistical needs ahead of the national rollout.
The pilot survey aimed to redefine survey instruments and monitoring frameworks, build the capacity of field teams and identify logistical challenges, and estimate required resources and optimise the design of the full-scale survey.
The selection of the areas for the pilot survey was to help in gauging how the survey might perform in various contexts, covering diverse socio-economic and geographical areas of the country.
The Minister called on all stakeholders to actively participate and provide the transparency and expertise necessary to make the survey a success.
“Your inputs reflect the true diversity of our workforce, cutting across sectors, professions, and organisational types in both formal and informal sectors. 5 Without your co-operation, transparency, and expertise, this research would lack the depth and credibility it requires,” he said.
With labour underutilisation still a pressing concern, the QSMS is expected to complement existing statistics and offer new insights into the structural challenges holding back productivity. The Ministry aims to use the data to fine-tune job creation strategies and better integrate young graduates and skilled professionals into the economy.
