By Leo Nelson
As Ghana marks the 2026 May Day Celebration, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is reiterating that the country’s political and national security is at risk due to the mass lack of decent jobs for the teeming youth, describing the situation as a ticking time bomb.
According to the Secretary General of the TUC, Joshua Ansah, who was speaking at the National Parade at Koforidua, the unemployment figures in the country is staggering, and even more profound among the youth.
He cannot fathom why it will take a graduate about 5 years to land his/her first job, while others are stuck in poor and unsafe employment.
He added that this is the situation amid the much-touted favourable macroeconomic turnaround.
For him, behind the talk of macroeconomic stability and GDP growth lies a human reality that Joshua Ansah warns is transforming from a social grievance into a volatile political problem.
For the average young Ghanaian, the “economic success” celebrated in high-level meetings feels like a distant fairy tale.
The General Secretary added that many workers earn a minimum wage of just GHS 588 a month, a sum that barely covers a daily menu of hausa kooko for breakfast and gobbe for lunch, leaving virtually nothing for rent, utilities, or a future
“We are almost at crisis level”, he declared, noting that the lack of decent work is more than just an economic issue.
He described a ticking time bomb of educated, frustrated youth who are denied the chance to contribute to their nation. The General Secretary pointed out that the 500,000 young people who applied for a handful of recruitment spots in the security services is a staggering testament to the depth of the desperation.
The primary concern, he says, is that when a government fails to provide a path to a Living Wage, the vacuum is filled by political instability and resentment.
He highlighted a dangerous trend where the public sector is becoming increasingly politicized, with workers being rewarded or punished based on their perceived political views rather than their skills.
This environment, he suggests, places the country’s institutions on a “road to the abyss.”
For the TUC, while the country has seen consistent GDP growth for decades, the structure of the economy, which heavily relies on raw material exports, has failed to create the manufacturing and agro-processing jobs needed to sustain a “youth bulge.”
The General Secretary is urging the government to see the numerous protests not as mere labor disputes, but as early tremors of a larger political earthquake. The call now is to pivot away from the statistics and toward a policy that treats sustainable livelihoods as the only true metric of success.