The Centre for Policy Scrutiny (CPS) has raised concerns over the government’s inability to provide verifiable evidence on jobs created under its flagship employment programmes, saying the 490,000 jobs projected under the Big Push initiative cannot be confirmed two years after the promise was made.
The labour economist at CPS, Dr Prince Adjei, said while government has announced several initiatives expected to generate employment, there is currently no reliable data to establish the actual number of jobs created.
Making a presentation at the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review organised by the Centre for Policy Scrutiny on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, Dr Adjei explained that measuring employment outcomes requires clear indicators, including permanent jobs, temporary jobs, indirect jobs, and sustained employment.
He noted that while some projects have commenced, implementation progress alone cannot be used as proof of job creation.
“The manifesto promise was that the Big Push is projecting about 490,000 jobs. But what we see by mid-year 2026 is that these 490,000 jobs; we do not have verifiable data to confirm that these jobs have actually been created.”
According to him, out of the 87 projects assessed under the Big Push programme, 28 have achieved more than 25% completion, while 59 remain below the 25% completion mark.
Dr Adjei said although the projects indicate that implementation has started, the absence of employment records makes it difficult to determine their impact on the labour market.
“It means that it would be difficult for us to pass a conclusive verdict that this Big Push has generated a number of jobs. We need verifiable data on how many sustained jobs and how many temporary jobs have been created.”
He further called for the establishment of a national job creation monitoring system that will provide real-time data on employment outcomes from government programmes.
According to him, government must move beyond announcing allocations and projects to measuring actual employment results.
“We need to move from allocation into measurable employment outcomes. There must be a programme register and a database or dashboard that can report in real time how many jobs have been created.”
The CPS also raised concerns about specific flagship programmes, including the Accra-Kumasi Expressway project, which was projected to create about 80,000 jobs.
Dr Adjei said the project is currently at the preparatory stage, with right-of-way clearing ongoing, making it difficult to verify any employment impact.
He added that other initiatives, including agricultural enclave roads, garment factories, agro-processing plants, and apprenticeship programmes, are yet to provide sufficient evidence of actual jobs created.
