Dr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, the Minister for Labour, Jobs and Employment, has claimed the John Mahama government has made significant progress in tackling unemployment since assuming office in 2025.
According to the Labour Minister, the Mahama government’s performance in job creation has been very good.
He claimed that the government’s efforts to create jobs are beginning to yield results, with both youth and general unemployment showing signs of decline.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Thursday, July 9, Dr Pelpuo stated, “Government performance has been very good. As you know, job creation is a multi-ministerial, sectorial issue and what we have seen is that each ministry has a component on how jobs are created and they are all up and doing and working very hard”.
“The private sector is energised to do more, and we can see them committed to doing the best they can,” he added.
He expressed confidence that the government’s overall economic and employment policies are producing positive results.
“Generally, I see that things are moving well and the statistics show that so far we have done so well,” he stated.
Dr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo further indicated that unemployment has declined compared to since the current administration took office.
“Given the rate of unemployment before we came and the rate of unemployment now, there has been a decrease in both youth unemployment and general unemployment,” the Minister said.
His comments come on the back of the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee and Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has argued that the John Mahama government’s job programmes are not delivering on the promises.
According to Oppong Nkrumah, in a post on X, the government’s job programs are not delivering.
In his post, he wrote, “The government’s job programs are not delivering on the promises of 250,000 jobs a year. They need to sit up and stop the settings”.
Also, on the floor of Parliament, Oppong Nkrumah proposed a five-point strategy to address Ghana’s growing youth unemployment crisis.
Oppong Nkrumah asserted that current interventions by the John Mahama government are not delivering the desired results.
He highlighted that data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicate that youth unemployment continues to rise, adding that nearly two million young Ghanaians are currently neither in education, employment, nor training.
The MP further disclosed that almost half of young people in the Greater Accra Region are unemployed.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on the rising unemployment situation in the country on Thursday, June 11, 2026, Oppong Nkrumah stated, “Mr Speaker, we do not need more slogans or promises that results are in the pipeline. We need a more effective architecture to solve the worsening youth unemployment problem in our country. Data from the Statistical Service is clear. The youth unemployment problem is getting worse. The time to act is now”.
“Ghanaian youth do not want slogans. They want feasible programmes that create dignified, productive and well-paid jobs,” he stated.
“Anchor every job programme to a published delivery scorecard with clear metrics on beneficiaries, cost per job created, time-to-placement and employment retention,” he urged.
“We do not need more slogans or promises that results are in the pipeline. We need a more effective architecture to solve the worsening youth unemployment problem of our country,” he said.
@ghnow_ President Mahama donates sanitary items to the 37 Military Hospital #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
