The Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services has defended its earlier statement on employment figures, insisting that official data from the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) confirms that more than 163,000 additional Gambians were employed between 2022/23 and 2026.

In a press release issued on Friday, the ministry said the figures were drawn directly from the GBoS report titled “The Gambia Labour Market: Progress and Trends, GLFS 2022-23 (Q1) to GLFS 2026 (Q1).”

According to the ministry, the report shows that the number of employed persons increased from 563,395 in 2022/23 to 727,055 in 2026 – representing an increase of 163,660 people in employment over the period.

The ministry further stated that the labour force expanded by 165,938 persons, while unemployment declined from 7.6 percent to 6.2 percent.

“The Ministry acknowledges that the GBoS report uses the technical statistical term ‘labour absorption’ to describe this increase and explains that it is not a direct administrative count of jobs created by government institutions alone,” the statement noted.

However, the ministry argued that increased labour absorption reflects the economy’s growing ability to engage more Gambians in productive economic activity.

“In practical terms, over 163,000 more Gambians are now employed compared to 2022/23. This is a significant labour market improvement,” the ministry stated.

The clarification follows growing public debate and criticism from some commentators and activists questioning whether the figures represented newly created jobs or broader labour force participation trends.

By Adama Makasuba