The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has refuted media reports about the country’s unemployment figures issued by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research of the University of Ghana.

The GSS said the national unemployment figure of 1.8 per cent mentioned did not exist in any of the recent GSS publications, and that the total unemployment rate is 5.2 per cent and not 1.8 per cent.

Mr Baah Wadieh, Deputy Government Statistician, who disclosed this at a press briefing in Accra, said the unemployment rate for males was 4.8 per cent, and 5.5 per cent for females.

Mr Wadieh said the unemployment rate for persons aged 15-24 years was 10.9 per cent, and not 3.2 as published in the media.

He appealed to researchers and academia to cross-check their figures with the GSS before making any public statements using wrong figures which had the tendency of misinforming the public and bringing the image of the Service into disrepute.

Mr Wadieh said the unemployment figures in the country were obtained through population censuses and household surveys such as the Ghana Living Standard Surveys conducted by GSS through internationally accepted methodologies.