30,000 job creation projection for Accra-Kumasi Expressway is even conservative – Dr Theo Acheampong

The projected creation of 30,000 jobs from the construction of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway is a conservative estimate, Technical Advisor at the Ministry of Finance, Dr Theophilus Acheampong, has said.

His comments follow a projection by Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson that the major road project will create about 30,000 direct and indirect jobs.

In a social media post on Thursday, September 10, Dr Acheampong said standard employment-content calculations suggest that the project could generate significantly more jobs than the projected figure.

He explained that infrastructure employment is typically measured in job-years, with one full-time position maintained for 12 months counting as one job-year.

“The short answer is yes, and if anything, the figure is conservative. Let me show the math using a standard employment-content calculation," the economist analyst said in response to questions as to whether the figure is exaggerated or not.

According to Dr Acheampong, about a tenth of an expressway project’s budget typically goes into on-site labour, including labourers, plant operators, artisans, engineers and supervisors.

He estimated that this could generate between 38,000 and 48,000 direct job-years during construction, based on comparable projects and a blended annual employment cost of about US$10,000.

He further estimated that domestic purchases of materials and services could support an additional 12,000 to 14,000 indirect job-years in areas such as quarrying, cement, haulage and other services.

This, he said, could bring the combined employment impact to about 50,000 job-years, depending on factors such as labour costs, the share of project spending allocated to local suppliers and import content.

“That gives a combined figure of about 50,000 job-years, within a plausible range of 38,000 to 70,000 depending on labour share, wage levels and import content. Averaged over a 30-month build, that is about 20,000 people employed at any one time," he noted.