Trends in Education and Labour Market Dynamics in Ghana: A Gendered Cohort Analysis

Emma Whitelaw, SALDRU/University of Cape Town
Nicola Branson, University of Cape Town

Educational attainment in Ghana has grown rapidly due to deliberate policies aimed at expanding access, but little is known about how this expansion has played out in the labour market over time, especially for women. Ghana has rich, nationally representative cross-sectional household survey and Census data, spanning 1987-2021. We stack and harmonise these independent cross sections to analyse educational attainment and labour market participation across birth cohorts by age and gender. By comparing cohorts, we trace individuals educated under different educational systems over their lifetimes, thereby measuring the equilibrium change of the quantity-quality trade-offs as education expanded in Ghana. Preliminary findings suggest a period of educational stagnation, followed by increased educational attainment. This expansion does not appear to have been matched by increases in wage employment, especially for women. On the whole, for the cohorts we study, female educational attainment and employment continues to lag behind that of males, but, positively, some gains have been made.

Keywords: Human Capital, Education, and Work, Gender Dynamics, Longitudinal studies , Economic Demography

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