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Jobs, Skills and Incomes in Ghana: How was poverty halved?

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  • Nicholas Nsowah-Nuamah
  • Francis Teal
  • Moses Awoonor-Williams

Abstract

Poverty has halved in Ghana over the period from 1991 to 2005. Our objective in this paper is to assess how far this fall was linked to the creation of better paying jobs and the increase in education. We find that earnings rose rapidly in the period from 1998 to 2005, by 64% for men and by 55% for women. While education, particularly at the post secondary level, is associated with far higher earnings there is no evidence that the increase in earnings that occurred over the period from1998 to 2005 is due to increased returns to education or increased levels of education. In contrast there is very strong evidence, for all levels of education, that the probability of having a public sector job approximately halved over the period from 1991 while the probability of having a job in a small firm increased very substantially. In 1991/92 a male worker with secondary education had a 7 per cent probability of being employed in a small firm, by 2005/06 this had increased to 20 per cent which was higher than the probability of being employed by the public sector. Employment in small firms, which is the low paying occupation within the urban sector, increased from 2.7 to 6.7 percent of the population, an increase from 225,000 to 886,000 employees. Jobs in total have been increasing in line with the population but the proportion of relatively low paying ones increased markedly from 1998/99 to 2005/06. The rises in income that occurred over this period were due almost entirely to increases in earnings rates, for given levels of education, across all job types particularly among the unskilled. Why unskilled earnings rates rose so rapidly is unclear.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas Nsowah-Nuamah & Francis Teal & Moses Awoonor-Williams, 2010. "Jobs, Skills and Incomes in Ghana: How was poverty halved?," CSAE Working Paper Series 2010-01, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-01
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Louise Fox & Melissa Sekkel Gaal, 2008. "Working Out of Poverty : Job Creation and the Quality of Growth in Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6434.
    2. Soderbom, Mans & Teal, Francis, 2004. "Size and efficiency in African manufacturing firms: evidence from firm-level panel data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 369-394, February.
    3. Steve Bond & Asli Leblebicioglu & Fabio Schiantarelli, 2010. "Capital accumulation and growth: a new look at the empirical evidence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(7), pages 1073-1099, November/.
    4. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon & John Knight, 2006. "How Flexible are Wages in Response to Local Unemployment in South Africa?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 59(3), pages 471-495, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Paul Mosley, 2013. "Two Africas? Why Africa’s ‘Growth Miracle’ is barely reducing poverty," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 19113, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    2. Paul Mosley & Blessing Chiripanhura, 2016. "The African Political Business Cycle: Varieties of Experience," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(7), pages 917-932, July.
    3. Paul Mosley, 2012. "The politics of what works for the poor in public expenditure and taxation: a review," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-011-12, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    4. Stefano A. Caria & Paolo Falco, 2018. "Does the Risk of Poverty Reduce Happiness?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(1), pages 1-28.
    5. Francis Teal, 2010. "Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa: a Review of Channels and Interactions," CSAE Working Paper Series 2010-25, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    6. Monazza Aslam & Kim Lehrer, 2014. "Learning by Doing: Skills and Jobs in Urban Ghana," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(8), pages 1119-1134, August.
    7. Francis Teal, 2010. "Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa: a Review of Channels and Interactions," Economics Series Working Papers CSAE WPS/2010-25, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    8. Charles Godfred Ackah & Charles Adjasi & Festus Turkson & Adjoa Acquah, 2014. "Education, Skill, and Earnings: Further Evidence from Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-073, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Monazza Aslam & Kim Lehrer, 2012. "Learning by Doing: Skills and Jobs in Urban Ghana," CSAE Working Paper Series 2012-15, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    10. Shashidhara Kolavalli & Elizabeth Robinson & Guyslain Ngeleza & Felix Asante, 2012. "Economic Transformation in Ghana: Where Will the Path Lead?," Journal of African Development, African Finance and Economic Association (AFEA), vol. 14(2), pages 41-78.
    11. Paul Mosley, 2011. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Trust and conditionality; Or, can the World Bank ‘Leopard’ change its spots?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 483-483, September.
    12. Sue Bowden & Paul Mosley, 2012. "Politics, Public Expenditure and the Evolution of Poverty in Africa 1920-2009," Working Papers 2012003, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    13. Ackah, Charles & Adjasi, Charles & Turkson, Festus & Acquah, Adjoa, 2014. "Education, skill, and earnings: Further evidence from Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series 073, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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