Yesterday I started a survey seeking to find out the income and savings levels of people working in Ghana. I was hoping for about 1,000 respondents by September but I have been overwhelmed by the interest in the survey. With more than 700 respondents so far, I reached out to Alfred Appiah, a data scientist based in Canada, to help me get some early survey results out.

The survey heavily leans towards men around the ages of 26-35 so we would be very grateful if you can share the survey as widely as possible so we get a more representative sample. In the meantime, below are some results with a total of 767 valid responses.

From the data above we can see that 68% of public sector respondents earn less than GH¢5,000.00 a month compared to 49% of private sector respondents. Also while 25% of respondents in the private sector earn at least GH¢10,000.00 a month, only 10% of respondents in the public sector earn at least that much.

Ghanaians working for companies based abroad earn significantly more than those working for Ghanaian companies. 36% of respondents working for companies based abroad earned at least GH¢20,000.00 a month compared to only 4% of respondents working for Ghanaian-based companies. Note that those working for non-Ghanaian companies represent only 13% of the respondents so keep sharing the survey!

54% of the respondents earn less than GH¢5,000.00 a month, with the majority earning between GH¢2,500.00 – GH¢4,999.00. It is interesting to note that even though the survey leans heavily towards respondents in the 26-35 age group, the earnings are relatively impressive with 30% earning at least GH¢7,500.00 per month.

Remember to keep sharing the survey as the better the quality of the data, the better the decisions we can all make based on them.

UPDATE

At over 1,200 respondents, we have decided to share the savings data as it is a crucial part of the survey.

The data shows that 37% of respondents have zero months’ worth of expenses saved up. This means that in the event of a loss in their income earning venture, they won’t be able to meet any expense without the help of a loan or other external support. Almost a third (32%) have 1-3 months’ worth of expenses saved up. The most financially secure 10% have over a year’s worth of expenses saved up. This means that they can survive for at least a year at their current rate of expenditure without working.

Further analysis of the data based on income indicates a stark distribution of financial security based on income levels. People earning less than GH¢5,000 are twice as likely to have no months’ worth of expenses saved up as people earning between GH¢5,000 to GH¢9,999. 53% of people earning less than GH¢5,000 per month would be unable to meet even a month’s worth of expenditure if they were to lose their income earning venture(s). At the GH¢10,000-GH¢19,999 income range, more than one-sixth (17%) have no savings buffer, although more than a third (36%) have at least a month’s worth of expenses saved. Unsurprisingly, people earning over GH¢20,000 per month are the most financially secure, with 45% of them having at least 8 months’ worth of expenses saved up.

The preliminary results seem to suggest that financial security is very much a function of income levels but we will explore that more when we release the final results. Most importantly, we hope by sharing this data publicly, researchers would be able to analyse it and release more insightful findings. For now, keep sharing the survey! Thank you!