{"id":15957,"date":"2026-03-02T08:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/?p=15957"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:45:09","slug":"fact-check-mahamas-claim-of-one-million-jobs-created-in-2025-is-false","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/?p=15957","title":{"rendered":"Fact-Check: Mahama\u2019s Claim of One Million Jobs Created in 2025 is False"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During the State of the Nation Address on Friday, February 27, 2026, President John Mahama claimed that data from the Ghana Statistical Service shows that one million people found employment between the first and third quarters of 2025.<\/p>\n<div id=\"mjo-article-left_rectangle_mid\" data-google-query-id=\"CNfehIbpgJMDFZXQRAcdEMUzbA\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/1002554\/Myjoyonline\/mjo-article-left_rectangle_mid_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10032989488\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/President-John-Mahama-12-1024x731.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"658\" height=\"470\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>He stated:<br \/>\n<em>\u201cAccording to the Ghana Statistical Service, over one million Ghanaians found employment between Quarter 1 and Quarter 3 of 2025.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>However, a careful review of official data from the Ghana Statistical Service does not support this claim.<\/p>\n<p>Data from the\u00a0<strong>Quarterly Labour Force Survey<\/strong>\u00a0shows that in the fourth quarter of 2024, 12.73 million Ghanaians were employed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10032990385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-23.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"762\" height=\"368\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: Quarterly labour statistics, Ghana statistical service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the first quarter of 2025, employment rose to 13.09 million. It increased further to 13.44 million in the second quarter before dipping marginally to 13.42 million in the third quarter.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10032990386\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-24.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"668\" height=\"548\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: Quarterly labour statistics, Ghana statistical service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A simple calculation provides clarity.<\/p>\n<p>Compared with the fourth quarter of 2024, employment increased by\u00a0<strong>360,000<\/strong>\u00a0in the first quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>In the second quarter of 2025, employment increased by another\u00a0<strong>350,000<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In the third quarter, employment\u00a0<strong>declined by 20,000<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"in-article1\" data-google-query-id=\"COzh-cjogJMDFZDLRAcdMMETsw\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/1002554\/Myjoyonline\/mjo-article-left_rectangle_mid2_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Adding the gains from the first two quarters of 2025 gives a total of\u00a0<strong>710,000 additional employed persons<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>If one factors in the third quarter decline, the net increase across the three quarters is\u00a0<strong>690,000<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In either case, the number does not reach one million.<\/p>\n<p>The President\u2019s claim that over one million people found employment between Q1 and Q3 of 2025 is therefore false.<\/p>\n<div id=\"in-article2\" data-google-query-id=\"CO3h-cjogJMDFZDLRAcdMMETsw\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/1002554\/Myjoyonline\/mjo-article-left_rectangle_mid3_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When presented with this data, the Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, offered a different explanation.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10032805325\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/felix-1024x732.webp\" alt=\"Felix Kwakye Ofosu\" width=\"681\" height=\"487\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Minister for Government Communications<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He argued that the figures were derived from comparing average employment levels. Speaking on JoyFm\u2019s Top Story, he said:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe need to see the full gamut of data to extrapolate the figures and we do have the full gamut of data. Indeed, the average job creation or the average number of people in employment as of the end of 2024 was 14.2 million. The average number of people in employment between quarter 1 and quarter 3 of 2025 was 15.3 million. So if you do a simple analysis, you get 1.2 million. That&#8217;s the difference. So that is where the figures emanate from. This is Ghana service data.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Again, official data tells a different story.<\/p>\n<div id=\"in-article3\" data-google-query-id=\"CO7h-cjogJMDFZDLRAcdMMETsw\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/1002554\/Myjoyonline\/mjo-article-left_rectangle_mid4_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0<strong>average employment level<\/strong>\u00a0for 2024 was 12.29 million, not 14.2 million.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10032990387\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-25.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"762\" height=\"368\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: Quarterly labour statistics, Ghana statistical service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The average employment for the first three quarters of 2025 was 13.3 million, not 15.3 million.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10032990388\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-26.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"690\" height=\"566\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: Quarterly labour statistics, Ghana statistical service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The difference between these averages is approximately 1.01 million.<\/p>\n<p>While this figure aligns with the President\u2019s one million claim, using averages to imply that one million people found jobs within a specific period is misleading.<\/p>\n<p>Averages compare levels, not flows.<\/p>\n<p>The correct measure of how many people actually found employment between Q1 and Q3 of 2025 is the net increase over that period.<\/p>\n<p>That figure is\u00a0<strong>690,000<\/strong>, not one million or 1.2 million.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Verdict: False<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5>Disclaimer: The content provided on Fish FM Online is for informational and entertainment purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, we do not guarantee the completeness, reliability, or timeliness of the information presented. Fish FM Online and its affiliates are not responsible for any errors or omissions, nor for any decisions made based on the content available on our platform.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During the State of the Nation Address on Friday, February 27, 2026, President John Mahama claimed that data from the Ghana Statistical Service shows that one million people found employment between the first and third quarters of 2025. He stated: \u201cAccording to the Ghana Statistical Service, over one million Ghanaians found employment between Quarter 1 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123457,"featured_media":15958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[3061],"class_list":["post-15957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","tag-president-john-mahama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/123457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15959,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957\/revisions\/15959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}