by Elorm Desewu
Job availability in the country for the first two months of 2024 has inched up marginally, according to figures from the Bank of Ghana, (BoG).
For the first two months of this year, total number of jobs advertised was 5,577 compared with 5,372 jobs advertised during the same period in 2023, representing a 3.7 percent increase.
The number of jobs advertised in selected media, which partially gauges labour demand in the economy, increased in February 2024 relative to what was observed in the corresponding period a year ago.
In total, 2,754 job adverts were recorded as compared with 2,529 for the same period in 2023, indicating an improvement of 8.9 percent year-on-year.
On a month-on-month basis, the number of job vacancies in February 2024 declined by 2.4 percent from 2,823 jobs advertised in January 2024.
Total number of private sector SSNIT contributors, which partially gauges employment conditions, declined marginally by 1.1 percent to 942,608 in January 2024, compared with 953,117 for the same period in 2023. On a month-on-month basis, total number of private sector SSNIT contributors decreased by 4.2 percent from the 985,079 individuals recorded in December 2023.
Total direct taxes collected increased marginally to GH¢3,325.09 million in January 2024, compared with GH¢3,272.79 million recorded in January 2023. On a month-on-month basis, total direct taxes collected for January 2023 declined by 65.7 percent from GH¢9,697.20 million collected in December 2023.
In terms of contributions of the various sub-tax categories, corporate tax accounted for 47.5 percent, income tax (PAYE and self-employed) accounted for 36.3 percent, while “Other Tax Sources” contributed 16.2 percent.
Total private sector workers’ contribution to the SSNIT Pension Scheme (Tier-1) went up by 18.9 percent in year-on-year terms to GH¢341.12 million in January 2024, from GH¢286.98 million collected during the corresponding period in 2023.
