Government needs GH₵12bn to employ 145,000 health, education professionals – Nyarko Ampem

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has disclosed that Ghana is facing a severe backlog of unemployed professionals in the health and education sectors, a situation that continues to strain the national budget.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, Mr. Ampem revealed that since 2019, the country has accumulated a backlog of 74,000 health professionals and 71,000 education professionals who are yet to be recruited into the public sector.

“If you look at the health sector, every year from 2010 to date, about 26,000 professionals are trained, and out of that, only about 13,000 are recruited annually. Since 2019 to date, we have had a backlog of about 74,000 unemployed health professionals who are waiting to be recruited,” he explained.

He further noted that the education sector faces similar challenges, with colleges of education and universities producing roughly 35,000 to 81,000 graduates annually, yet only a portion of them find employment in the public sector.

“There are about 14,000 of them who are not employed each year, and we have a backlog of about 71,000 unemployed education professionals,” he said.

Mr. Ampem stated that the government is aware of the gravity of the situation, but emphasised that absorbing all these professionals into the public payroll would require significant financial resources.

“If we put the 74,000 health professionals on the payroll, we will need an additional GH₵6 billion annually to absorb them — and another GH₵6 billion for the education sector. This is just for the backlog of professionals who have not been employed,” he noted.

He also acknowledged the plight of over 12,000 workers who have been employed but remain unpaid, saying the government is taking steps to resolve the issue.