Youth unemployment in Ghana averaged 21.9 per cent during the first three quarters of 2025, significantly above the national unemployment rate of 12.8 per cent, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The figures are contained in Ghana in Numbers 2025, the Service’s maiden flagship statistical publication, which brings together official data on population, social development, the economy, governance and the environment to guide national planning.
Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu warned that Ghana must act quickly to convert its youthful population into an economic advantage.
“Ghana’s youth window is open, but it is closing. Our choices on schooling, skills and jobs in the next ten years will decide whether it becomes a dividend or a burden,” he said.
Younger jobseekers worst affected
Unemployment was highest among Ghanaians aged 15 to 24, averaging 32.4 per cent during the first three quarters of 2025.
For the broader youth group aged 15 to 35, unemployment averaged 21.9 per cent, compared with the national average of 12.8 per cent.
The figures show that young people in the labour force were significantly more likely to be unemployed than the general population, with the 15-to-24 age group facing the greatest difficulty.
GSS estimates that about 12 million Ghanaians were aged 15 to 35 in 2025, representing roughly one in every three people in the country.
Nearly two million outside work and school
The challenge extends beyond unemployment. Nearly two million Ghanaians aged 15 to 35 were neither employed nor enrolled in education or training in the third quarter of 2025.
The average rate of young people classified as not in employment, education or training—known as NEET—was 17.9 per cent during the first three quarters of 2025.
Women accounted for more than 60 per cent of young people in this category, according to the GSS.
Job quality and skills mismatch
The report also raises concerns about the quality of jobs available to young people.
More than 70 per cent of jobs in Ghana remain in the informal sector, where workers often face low pay, limited protections and job insecurity.
Among employed young people, only 58 per cent said their educational level matched the requirements of their current job, while 65 per cent said their skills matched their work.
The findings point to a persistent gap between the education system, the skills young people acquire and the demands of the labour market.
Regional disparities
Employment opportunities also varied sharply across regions.
Greater Accra recorded an average youth unemployment rate of 31.9 per cent among people aged 15 to 35, followed by the Central Region at 27.4 per cent and the Ashanti Region at 27.2 per cent.
Demographic window narrowing
The GSS says Ghana’s demographic window opened in the early 2000s but has been narrowing since 2019.
A demographic window occurs when the working-age population is larger than the dependent population, creating an opportunity for faster economic growth if people are healthy, educated, skilled and productively employed.
Dr Iddrisu said Ghana’s ability to benefit from this opportunity will depend on deliberate investments in quality education, skills development and decent job creation.
National labour market improves, but youth lag behind
The youth employment challenges come despite improvements in Ghana’s broader labour-market indicators.
Labour-force participation increased from 67.1 per cent in 2022 to 74.5 per cent in 2025, while the proportion of the population in employment rose from 58.3 per cent to 65 per cent.
National unemployment also declined from 14.6 per cent in 2023 to an average of 12.8 per cent during the first three quarters of 2025.
However, the GSS figures show that young jobseekers continue to face substantially higher unemployment than the general population, making youth employment a central test of Ghana’s development agenda.
Story by Ama Frimpomaa
