Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and Job Creation

Abstract

Through the years, the role of Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) towards economic development have been documented by researchers across the world. Job creation entails an increment in the number of jobs in any given economy. In Ghana, SMEs account for about 92% of businesses, 80% of jobs and 70% of GDP. This study makes it evident that of three selected sub-sectors within the SME sector, services sector created the greatest number of jobs (91.07%), followed by the industrial sector (8.42%) with the agriculture sector creating the least number of jobs (0.51%). The major challenges SMEs face in Ghana include raising capital,location, calibre of employees, differentiation and performance measurement. This study further makes recommendations for governments and policy makers based on the findings.