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Ghana National Requirements
Unavailable
Figure 9. Employment by Sector, 1988
Source: Based on information from Ghana, Statistical Service,
Quarterly Digest of Statistics, Accra, December 1991,
Table 42.
Although the Ghanaian labor force grew throughout the 1980s,
the structure of employment remained relatively stable
(see
fig. 9). Between 1981 and 1988, the official number of workers grew by
almost 100,000. Despite efforts under the ERP to stimulate private
production, public-sector jobs still accounted for more than 80
percent of total employment over the decade. Employment in the
public sector rose every year between 1981 and 1985 (from 175,700
to 397,100), but thereafter fell three years in a row, standing at
251,500 in 1988. By 1992 the number of public sector workers had
grown to an estimated 595,000, although some 55,000 had been made
redundant.
Considering the relative importance of public-sector
employment, ERP policies to reduce the scope of state enterprises
had a profound impact on patterns of unemployment. In the mid1980s , cutbacks at Ghana Cocoa Board (20,000 jobs), Ghana National
Trading Corporation (2,000 jobs), and the shipping enterprise, the
Black Star Line (1,000 jobs), contributed to nearly 30,000 job
losses in the parastatal sector alone by the end of 1986. The civil
service lost an estimated 15,000 jobs in the same period. In 1990
fifteen of the remaining state-owned enterprises reduced their
payrolls by about 13,000 employees; no figures were available for
losses resulting from the liquidation of an additional twenty-two
state enterprises that year.
Although ERP policies resulted in the loss of many jobs for
Ghanaians, their implementation met relatively minor resistance
from organized labor. The most serious challenge came in 1986 on
the issue of income rather than that of layoffs. The unions
threatened action in response to the government's decision (under
pressure from the IMF) to abolish leave allowances, a crucial
benefit that substantially supplemented low public-sector wages. In
response, the government reversed its decision and revised the 1986
budget. After that, the government stepped up taxes on allowances
and, in some cases, consolidated them into wages and salaries.
Meanwhile, the unemployed continued to express concern over the
slow materialization of end-of-service payments. In response, the
1992 budget contained proposals for packages comprising down
payments, shares in profitable state-owned enterprises, and
interest on deferred payments.
Data as of November 1994
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