Rainbow Radio’s morning show and co-hosts, Kwame Tutu and Nana Adjoa Owusu, have taken a swipe at the government for lacking the ideas in creating sustainable jobs for the unemployed youth.
Kwame Tutu slammed successive governments saying they have failed and collapsed various state institutions that could have created jobs for the unemployed youth.
According to him, since the era of Rawlings to date, officials of government have corrupted themselves, destroyed state factories, and rendered them hopeless.
He mentioned the Public Works Department, the Ghana Highway Authority, among other institutions lamenting that it could have all served as institutions for jobs.
However, due to their inability to function, many have been rendered jobless. The situation he stressed, has led to the influx of foreign services taking over jobs meant for locals.
He said, if Urban Roads, Ghana Post, and other institutions should at least employ 30 people from each district, we will have over 6, 480 people employed.
Kwame Tutu said our leaders lack the ideas for creating jobs, and if all these institutions should employ a maximum of 30 people per district, over 12, 960 would be employed. Nana Adjoa Owusu expressed her disappointment, indicating that youth unemployment is a national security threat.
She charged the new administration to be up and doing in the area of job creation.
A recent study by the World Bank has it that about 48% of the Ghanaian youth are unemployed. The World Bank report released in 2016 on jobs revealed that about 48 percent of the youth in the country, who are between 15-24 years do not have jobs.
The report said: “In Ghana, youth are less likely than adults to be working: in 2012, about 52% of people aged 15-24 were employed (compared to about 90% for the 25-64 population), a third were in school, 14% were inactive, and 4% were unemployed actively looking for a job.
Young women in the same age group are particularly disadvantaged and have much higher inactivity rates than men: 17% of young females are inactive as opposed to 11% of males.’’
The report recommended that the government must work towards equipping the youth with relevant skills through the educational system. The World Bank estimates that youth between 15-24 will peak in the coming decade, raising concerns about the preparedness of the country’s economy to deal with the youth bulge.
Young women the report stated are particularly disadvantaged and have much higher job inactivity rates than their male counterparts. 17% of young females are inactive as opposed to 11% of males.
