Ghana must begin producing more of what it consumes and create jobs in the process. That was the central message from organized labour at this year’s National May Day Parade in Koforidua, where calls for a shift toward manufacturing set the tone for a broader critique of the country’s economic direction.
For the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the issue is no longer just about growth, but about what that growth delivers. Despite decades of steady economic expansion, the benefits have not translated into enough decent, stable jobs, particularly for the country’s youth.
Across major cities in Ghana, the disconnect is visible. Large numbers of educated young Ghanaians remain unemployed, while many of those working are confined to the informal sector, often without job security or reliable income. The headline indicators of progress, GDP growth, lower inflation, and relative currency stability, have not produced the level of employment many expected.
That tension came into sharp focus during the May Day address, where TUC Secretary General Joshua Ansah framed the issue as a structural problem rooted in long-standing policy choices.
“Economic growth without jobs is exclusion,” he said. “Stability without livelihoods is incomplete,” adding that “an economy that grows while workers remain insecure is not yet an economy that has fulfilled its social purpose.”
Labour leaders argue that Ghana’s economic model has, for decades, prioritized macroeconomic stability on the assumption that employment would follow naturally. That assumption, they say, has not held. As Ansah put it, the expectation was built “without any evidence whatsoever.”
Ghana’s growth story reflects that imbalance. Since the mid-1980s, the economy has expanded consistently, with periods of rapid acceleration. However, much of that growth has been driven by extractive industries, cocoa, gold, and oil, which generate significant revenue but relatively few jobs.
By contrast, economies that have successfully reduced unemployment at scale have done so through manufacturing, building industries capable of absorbing large segments of their workforce. In Ghana’s case, labour leaders say the absence of a strong industrial base has resulted in growth that is not sufficiently job-intensive.
The consequences are increasingly evident. Competition for stable employment is intense, with hundreds of thousands of young people chasing limited opportunities. Recruitment exercises into the security services, for instance, continue to attract overwhelming numbers, reflecting a wider search for economic security.
Even for those in work, earnings remain a challenge. Many workers struggle to meet basic needs, as wages lag behind the cost of living. Illustrating this, Ansah noted that some salaries are “barely sufficient for a worker who takes hausa kooko for breakfast, gobbe for lunch and another kooko for dinner.”
In response, the TUC is pushing for a recalibration of economic policy, one that prioritizes job creation alongside growth. This includes a stronger focus on local production, reforms to improve access to credit for businesses, and renewed attention to productivity and wages.
The takeaway is hard to ignore: growth on its own is no longer enough. What matters is whether that growth translates into real opportunities for people.
A growing population of educated but underemployed youth presents both an economic and social risk. As Ansah warned, they are becoming “a ticking time-bomb.” Whether that warning is addressed or allowed to deepen will depend on how Ghana chooses to redefine its economic priorities in the years ahead.
