Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office.

  • Colonial Office
Date:
[1949]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/118 (page 11)
    Chapter 2 : Occupations, Wages and Labour Organisation The majority of the population is self-employed in subsistence farming and it is estimated that 250,000 work on cocoa farms. Increasing numbers are, however, seeking employment in business and industry. No accurate figures are available for those engaged in petty trading or family business but it is known that many thousands are so occupied. Government is the largest single employer with some 52,000 employees, while over 80,000 work for various commercial, industrial and public utility enterprises. There were few significant changes in the numbers employed in the major industries, except in the building trade where a considerable expansion took place. A table showing the approximate numbers employed in the major industries, together with their normal hours of work and minimum wages is at Appendix VII. Unemployment continued to be largely confined to Accra and Kumasi, and is mainly attributable to the long-standing unwillingness of workers to leave the towns for work in rural areas. While accurate statistics are not available, it is thought that there was less unemployment than in 1948. The resettlement of ex-servicemen continued successfully throughout the year and figures indicate that considerable progress has been made and that the end of the scheme is in sight. Some 13,000 applications for assistance were received at various centres as against nearly 19,000 during 1948. Of the 8,337 men wh° applied for help in obtaining employment nearly 5,000 (58*5 per cent) were placed in work. There was no important increase in wages until the introduction of a 15 per cent temporary allowance in September, 1949, for Government servants and employees earning salaries and wages below £750 a year. This example was followed by the larger commercial and industrial employers. Cost-of-living index figures are no longer kept owing to the inadequacy, under present conditions, of the old method of compilation, but it was clear that the cost of living mounted considerably during the year. The Labour Department, under the Commissioner of Labour, was expanded and now has a strength of 16 senior officers, 104 junior officers and 42 other employees. The number of registered trade unions increased from 37 to 61 with a concomitant rise in the total paid up membership from 32,000 to approx¬ imately 40,000. There are now n unions with less than 50 members, 17 with between 50 and 250 members, 12 with between 250 and 1,000 members, four with between 1,000 and 5,000 members and two with membership over 5,000. The membership of the remaining unions is not yet known. The development of negotiating machinery in commerce, industry, and Govern¬ ment departments continued to make satisfactory progress, and at the end of the year a Junior Civil Service Council and a Joint Industrial Council of Government Industrial Departments were in the course of being set up. The work of labour identification and registration, begun in 1948,