By A report by Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) reveals that over half of Ghanaian household incomes are dedicated to food expenses.
The report highlights that despite households allocating more than half of their earnings to food, workers from the focus groups noted that they have been compelled to decrease their food consumption to manage the escalating cost of living, attributed to inflationary pressures and high levels of government debt, among other factors.
“Food was the most important expense in workers’ households. A typical worker in the focus group was spending over half of the household earnings on food, consistent with the behaviour of the lowest quintiles in Ghana. Even when making cuts to other non-essential items, workers from all sectors reported reducing food consumption to cope with rising costs. In turn, this can lead to short- and long-term impacts on food security and nutritional diversity.”
Titled “Navigating Inflation: Impacts of the Cost-of-Living Crisis on Workers in Informal Employment in Accra, Ghana,” the report also reveals that education ranks second to food, accounting for nearly a third of household earnings.
“Education was the most important cost for workers after food. Within the focus groups, a typical worker with children spent almost a third of the household earnings on education. Common coping mechanisms to face rising school fees were incurring debt, using business capital or reducing food consumption, opting for public education or schools with daily fees, and renting textbooks.
“Especially among waste pickers, one of the lowest-earning sectors, workers said education was the most challenging cost element but one that could not be foregone given the implications for their children’s well-being and the possibility of breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty.”
