Ghana, a country of nearly 25 million inhabitants, has begun in the past decade to make concerted efforts to manage migration comprehensively so that it can benefit all involved, focusing particularly on organised labour migration in order to counter brain drain and maximise the impact of remittances and skills acquisition abroad for the development of the country.  This assessment provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of labour migration policies, legislation, practices, and structures in Ghana.  It explores many different facets of labour migration in the country, with special emphasis placed on the need for strengthened data collection and management systems and an enhanced institutional framework governing labour migration. 

The assessment demonstrates that Ghana needs to adopt a comprehensive and coherent approach to labour migration management by harnessing labour migration for the economic and social development of the country.  The development of a national framework to guide the management of labour migration is recognised as crucial to enabling all stakeholders to benefit from labour migration.  In this regard, the government is encouraged to enter into bilateral agreements to help regulate labour migration and foster the protection of the human and labour rights of Ghanaian labour migrants. 

The assessment ultimately finds that the development of a comprehensive labour market information system in Ghana is a necessary first step in developing a database of available skill sets in the country and negotiating job-matching schemes that facilitate organised labour migration with various countries of destination.  Such a system will provide useful information both to policy-makers and decision-makers responsible for labour migration management.