During his State of the Nation Address on Friday, February 27, 2026, President John Mahama asserted that data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicated that over one million Ghanaians found employment between the first and third quarters of 2025, he stated.
“According to the Ghana Statistical Service, over one million Ghanaians found employment between Quarter 1 and Quarter 3 of 2025.”
However, a review of official GSS data tells a different story. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows that 12.73 million Ghanaians were employed in Q4 2024. Employment rose to 13.09 million in Q1 2025, increased to 13.44 million in Q2, and slightly declined to 13.42 million in Q3.
Breaking down the net changes:
- Q1 2025: +360,000 jobs
- Q2 2025: +350,000 jobs
- Q3 2025: -20,000 jobs
This results in a net increase of 690,000 jobs between Q1 and Q3, falling short of the President’s claim of over one million. Even adding just the gains from Q1 and Q2 gives 710,000, still below one million.
In response, Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, explained that the figures were based on average employment levels rather than net changes. Speaking on JoyFm’s Top Story, he said:
“The average
number of people in employment at the end of 2024 was 14.2 million, while the average for Q1 to Q3 2025 was 15.3 million. The difference of 1.2 million is where the figure comes from.”
Official data, however, shows that the correct averages are 12.29 million for 2024 and 13.3 million for the first three quarters of 2025, a difference of roughly 1.01 million. While this aligns with the President’s claim, using averages to suggest that one million people actually found jobs in that period is misleading, because averages reflect levels, not actual employment flows. The accurate figure for the number of Ghanaians who gained employment between Q1 and Q3 2025 remains 690,000.
