Ghana news briefing
TUC Deputy Secretary-General on why Ghanaian salaries are still low while prices of goods stay high
Ghana’s persistently low wages are rooted in a colonial-era labour policy which Ghanaian workers have “not been able to overcome”, Dr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo, Deputy General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ghana, has said.
In a radio interview with Joy FM on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, Dr Otoo, who is also a labour economist, said the low pay levels confronting Ghanaian workers today could be traced to the introduction of wage employment during the colonial era, when British employers believed Ghanaian workers had a “target mentality”.
Economic historians have since questioned how far the theory reflected actual worker behaviour, with some describing it as a colonial-era justification for keeping wages low.
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