Accra, May 1, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday saluted Ghanaian workers for their contribution to the economic growth of the nation over the past 50 years and pledged the Government's firm resolve to establish equity in the country's pay structure.

To this end, it has started a national job analysis and evaluation exercise, the outcome of which would be used for the re-grading of jobs based on their comparability and also provide the basic data for the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to work with.

President Kufuor, who was addressing this year's National May Day Parade at Independence Square in Accra, said this was expected to be completed in August, 2007 to give enough time for any resulting adjustments to be captured in the 2008 budget.

The exercise was gathering information about more than 1,500 different jobs across the public sector with an estimated 8,000 job holders selected from more than 100 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) providing information of the work they do.

"Labour and Nation Building; 50 years and Beyond" was the theme for this year's celebration.

President Kufuor said not only has the Government backed the implementation of the new salary system by law through the passage of the Act establishing the Commission but everything was also being done to avail the Commission with the right human resources and appropriate facilities.

He assured the workers that public sector pay and pensions reform were the highest priority agenda of the Government and called for patience on the labour front.

He said there should be patience, persistence and commitment to pull together to uplift the economy.

President Kufuor used the occasion to review the performance of the economy and painted a positive picture, saying, "We have made giant strides and we have good reason to say that the present is a great improvement on the past and we can believe that the future is bright."

He said it was a pity that the country's statistics on the Core Welfare Indicators tended to be outdated and expressed the hoped that the rejuvenated Ghana Statistical Service would now work to provide more up-to-date data regularly.

Touching on the 2003 Core Welfare Indicators Survey released recently by the Service, President Kufuor said the survey's findings could not be a true reflection of the reality of the day as things had improved substantially.

He referred to a recent statement by the Country Director of World Bank at the launch of Ghana Living Standards Survey in Accra that, "Ghana has cut poverty levels from 51.7 per cent in 1991 to 28.5 per cent in 2005, halving poverty since 1990, thus making it the first country in Africa to do so" to support his assertion.

"Let us admit Ghana has made and is making progress and it is crucial we accentuate the positive."

Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary General of the Trades Union (TUC), asked the Government to address the frustrations and restiveness on the health workers front.