By Elorm Desewu
Job vacancies in the country have dropped by almost 40 percent for the first eight months of 2022, according to a report from the Bank of Ghana.
The number of jobs advertised in selected print and online media, which partially gauges labour demand in the economy, decreased in August 2022 relative to what was observed in the corresponding period a year ago.
In total, 2,467 job adverts were recorded as compared with 4,051 for the same period in 2021, indicating a decline of 39.1 percent year-on-year.
On a month-on-month basis, the number of job vacancies in August 2022 increased by 13.6 percent from the 2,172 jobs advertised in July 2022. Cumulatively, for the first eight months of 2022, the total number of advertised jobs declined by 12.4 percent to 20,929 from 23,892 recorded during the same period in 2021.
The Bank’s updated Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) recorded an annual growth of 0.5 percent in July 2022, compared with growth of 20.0 percent and 3.9 percent in the corresponding periods of 2021 and 2020 respectively.
The total number of private sector-SSNIT contributors, which partially gauges employment conditions, marginally declined to 873,406 in July 2022 compared with 873,612 for the same period in 2021. On a month-on-month basis, total number of private sector-SSNIT contributors decreased by 4.6 percent from the 915,516 individuals recorded in June 2022.
Cumulatively, for the first seven months of 2022, the total number of private sector contributors increased by 9.1 percent to 6,522,383 from 5,981,073 recorded over the corresponding period in 2021.
Consumer spending, proxied by domestic VAT collections and retail sales, posted a positive performance in July 2022, compared with the corresponding period in 2021. Domestic VAT collections increased by 30.6 percent on a year-on-year basis to GH¢754.64 million.
Cumulatively, total domestic VAT for the first seven months of 2022 went up by 18.3 percent to GH¢4,584.75 million, compared with GH¢3,874.18 million for the corresponding period of last year. Retail sales increased by 4.3 percent (year-on-year) to GH¢115.74 million in July 2022, up from the GH¢111.02 million recorded in the same period in 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, retail sales went up by 7.0 percent in July 2022 from GH¢108.21 million in the preceding month. In cumulative terms, retail sales for the first seven months of 2022 increased by 4.1 percent.
Activities in the manufacturing sub-sector, gauged by trends in the collection of direct taxes and private sector workers’ contributions to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Pension Scheme, improved in July 2022.
Total Direct Taxes increased by 37.7 percent (year-on-year) to GH¢2,146.92 million in July 2022, relative to GH¢1,558.78 million recorded in the same period in 2021. Cumulatively, total Direct Taxes collected during the first seven months of 2022 went up by 23.8 percent to GH¢16,971.67 million, from GH¢13,709.29 million for the same period in 2021. In terms of contributions of the various sub-tax categories, Income tax (PAYE and self-employed) accounted for 48.0 percent, Corporate tax accounted for 40.5 percent, while “Other Tax Sources” contributed 11.5 percent.
Total private sector workers’ contribution to the SSNIT Pension Scheme increased by 15.1 percent in yearon-year terms to GH¢272.93 million in July 2022, compared with GH¢237.13 million a year earlier. Cumulatively, for the first seven months of 2022, the contribution went up by 23.5 percent to GH¢1,801.81 million, relative to GH¢1,458.65 million recorded in the same period in 2021.
