Although the literature on precarious work is evolving, the empirical evidence so far has been on developed countries. For developing countries, particularly in Africa, the relatively scanty evidence has mostly focused on the informal sector. A noticeable gap in the literature is the missing evidence in the formal sector. This study, as a result, investigates the incidence of precarious employment from the perspective of a developing country in a ‘seemingly’ protected formal sector.

Consistent with Convention 87 of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Section 79 of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) empowers every employee in an organization to either form or join a trade union of their choice for the promotion and protection of their economic and social interests. In spite of this legal provision, union coverage and density in Ghana have continually declined in recent years. The decline in union density and coverage is likely to decrease the collective bargaining strength of unions.

Ghana’s economic growth and poverty reduction have been remarkable in the past few decades. However, the pace of poverty reduction has decreased since 2013. In addition, there are large differences in poverty levels across regions and socio-economic groups. People living in rural areas,those in traditional farming, and low-productivity informal sectors are vulnerable to various shocks including climate shocks, job losses, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic has further worsened the situation.

Over the years, money-metric measures of inequality such as the Gini coefficient and the Palma Ratio, as frequently used in Ghana, have become useful in providing quantitative measures of welfare distribution that enable a better understanding of the extent and nature of inequality. From these measures, we know that inequality has been rising in Ghana despite high and stable growth and a decline in the poverty rate. Although rising, however, inequality is low in Ghana compared with other countries in the sub-region.

• The COVID-19 pandemic has re-emphasised the critical role of accessible, affordable and quality childcare to reduce and redistribute the gender unequal distribution of unpaid care work as an investment towards the well-being of children, women, families and society.

• Smart investment in childcare and care systems in Africa requires context-specific and culturally appropriate local solutions driven by national stakeholders—including commitment by national governments to resource and build systems of public provision.

One essential condition of economic progress in any society is an ample supply of savings, which depends on the growth of real capital. Economists agree that higher investment rates will lead to higher growth. Thus, domestic savings is considered an important determinant of growth in developing countries. However, Ghana has one of the poorest savings performances in the world. There are many reasons for the low savings rates in Ghana.

Over the years, money-metric measures of inequality such as the Gini coefficient and the Palma Ratio, as frequently used in Ghana, have become useful in providing quantitative measures of welfare distribution that enable a better understanding of the extent and nature of inequality. From these measures, we know that inequality has been rising in Ghana despite high and stable growth and a decline in the poverty rate. Although rising, however, inequality is low in Ghana compared with other countries in the sub-region.

Female-owned businesses continue to be smaller and less profitable than male-owned firms. We conduct an RCT in Ghana on a sample of 1,771 growth-oriented female entrepreneurs to investigate the effect of online networking groups on firm performance. We find that access to online networking opportunities leads to greater innovation, better business practices and higher profits by 21%. The increase in profits is concentrated in the upper tail of the distribution. The treatment shifts business collaborations from friends and family members to business network members in the intervention.

Structural transformation in rural spaces in developing economies remains elusive. Although the agricultural sector in Africa has often been viewed as a critical sector with the potential to provide productive employment to spur sustained growth, the sector is yet to experience the much-needed boost required to propel the transformation of rural areas. Ghana’s extensive historical data makes it ideal for understanding transformation within developing country contexts.

Ghana-s current youth unemployment rate is 19.7%, and the country faces a significant youth unemployment problem. While a range of youth-employment programs have been created over the years, no systematic documentation and evaluation of the impacts of these public initiatives has been undertaken. Clarifying which interventions work would guide policy makers in creating strategies and programs to address the youth-employment challenge.