Public sector employees in the Greater Accra Region are paid more than their counterparts in other regions.
This was revealed in a document titled Ghana 2022 Earnings: Inequality in the Public Sector, which was released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
While some public sector workers earn an average monthly net salary of GH3,142, others in the North East Region earn around GH2,212, according to the GSS.
“Greater Accra has the highest average monthly net salary (GH3,142), while the North East has the lowest (GH2,212),” according to the GSS report.
According to the GSS report, men earn a higher average monthly net salary of GH2,669 than women, who earn GH2,504.
“The average net salary difference between men and women is GH165.
This equates to a 6.0 percent gender pay gap.
Men earn a higher average monthly net salary of GH2,669 than women, who earn GH2,504.
“In all 16 regions, women earn less than men on a monthly basis,” according to the report.
According to the GSS report, women in the Central Region earn less than men, with a 5.0 percent gender pay gap.
“The difference is highest for employees in the Upper West region, with men earning on average GH₵348 more than women. This is a gender pay gap of 13 percent. In the Central Region the difference between men and women is the least, with women earning GH₵124 less than men. This means the gender pay gap of 5.0 percent,” the GSS stated in its report.
According to GSS, the average monthly salary for employees over the age of 60 is significantly higher than for any other age group.
“The average monthly salary for employees older than 60 years (GH₵14,466) is much higher than that of any other age group, almost five (4.7) times the average of 51 to 60 years, the group with the next highest average. For the age groups up to 41 to 50 years, the average monthly net salary increases by between GH₵300 and GH₵500 from one age group to the next, with an increase of around GH₵200 between 41 to 50 years and 51 to 60 years.,” GSS noted.
According to the report, “the average monthly net salary of public sector employees is GH2,594”.
The highest paid earner receives GH33,855, which is nearly 81 times the net salary of the lowest paid worker (GH418).
The top 10% of employees with the highest net salaries receive 22% of the total net salary.
Half of the employees earn only one-third of the total net salary”.
According to the GSS, the government of Ghana employs approximately 688,000 people, with Ashanti (18.2%) and Greater Accra (16.5%) accounting for more than one-third (34.8%) of the workforce.
The North East (1.4%) and Savannah (1.4%) regions account for only 2.8 percent of all public sector employees.
Professor Samuel Anim, a government statistician, stated that much work may be required to bridge the gap.
Professor Anim, speaking at the launch of a survey on the salary structure of public sector workers, bemoaned the structure’s many inequalities.
“For every five government employees, four of them earn less than GH3,000.
It is critical that we as a country assess our situation.
The worrying part is that inequality is more profound in the world”.
“The danger is that if inheritance occurs, inequality will be passed down from one generation to the next,” the Government Statistician cautioned.