President John Dramani Mahama has delivered a candid assessment of Ghana’s labour market, revealing that state payrolls cannot absorb the thousands of tertiary and secondary graduates entering the workforce annually and reaffirming the 24-Hour Economy initiative as the primary engine for sustainable job growth.
Addressing residents during an interactive town hall meeting in Wa as part of his “Resetting Ghana Agenda” tour, President Mahama disclosed that despite urgent national needs across key sectors like education and healthcare, some trained health professionals currently remain at home awaiting formal public employment.
“The entire public service, from the President to the lowest-paid public worker, numbers fewer than one million people out of a population of 34 million,” President Mahama stated, highlighting the mathematical impossibility of reliance on state hiring. “That alone shows that government employment cannot absorb everyone graduating from our schools.”
Private Sector Expansion via the 24-Hour Economy
To address the mounting employment challenge, the President explained that the administration’s 24-Hour Economy model is structured specifically to incentivize private enterprises to add extra shifts, expanding production and expanding headcount.
Citing a recently commissioned manufacturing plant in Savelugu, President Mahama noted that operating multi-shift schedules has already enabled a single factory to employ 2,300 young people, 80 percent of whom are women. He confirmed plans to facilitate the establishment of three additional processing and manufacturing plants of similar scale next year.
$2.5 Billion Annual Anchor under the 2027 Budget
To provide long-term institutional backing for private sector growth, President Mahama reiterated that Minister for Finance Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson will formally introduce the New Economy Programme in the 2027 Budget.
The initiative will channel US$2.5 billion annually into five high-growth strategic industries namely pharmaceuticals, agricultural production, agro-processing, tourism, and power generation.
“These will not be state-owned enterprises,” President Mahama emphasized. “Government’s role will be to finance and support private businesses that establish viable industries.”
Concluding his comments with a direct call to the youth, President Mahama urged young Ghanaians to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset, noting that long-term national prosperity depends on building competitive private businesses capable of driving industrial innovation and employing others.
