Dealing with youth unemployment
At a meeting with youth groups in the country last Monday, President John Mahama announced that the government was developing a database to capture statistics on employment, skilled youth and available jobs.
Although there are no data on youth unemployment in the country, we know, from conservative estimates, that many of our young people, particularly those from the universities, have no jobs.
That group has even come together to form the Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana to take care of their interests and concerns.
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Many years ago, school leavers in search of jobs visited the labour offices in various parts of the country to register.
Employers looking for skilled and unskilled labour went to those offices to recruit such people.
It is regrettable that many of our public institutions are not functioning effectively because of neglect.
The Daily Graphic reminds our policy makers to refresh their minds on the objectives for setting up organisations, so that they can be resourced to play their roles more effectively and efficiently.
We think the lack of attention to the Labour Department and the Factories Inspectorate Division accounts for many of the unfair labour practices on the job market.
While we contend with growing unemployment, the government has to deal with employers who have refused to pay their employees the minimum wage.
To be able to perpetrate unfair labour practices in their organisations, some employers have denied their employees the right to form labour unions.
The most guilty organisations can be found in the Free Zones, where investors have used laissez-faire regulations to trample on the rights of workers, sometimes with the acquiesence of government officials and trade unionists.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has a lot of sensitisation to do to get employers to stop paying their workers slave wages.
It is the responsibility of the government to also compel employers, particularly the investors, not to take advantage of the unemployment situation in the country to trample on the rights of their workers.
The government has to step up its actions to deal with the situation before it escalates into a security challenge because the devil finds work for idle hands.
The Daily Graphic is happy that the government has allocated GH¢20 million for the Youth and Jobs Enterprises Fund.
We think that President Mahama was spot-on when he stressed the need for school curricula to be reviewed to make them more relevant to the job market.
The setting up of the fund is a major step forward, but it is up to young people to take advantage of the initiative to fit into the job market.
White-collar jobs are an endangered species now, as many organisations try to downsize or outsource non-strategic functions to institutions better placed to do so.
The job market will not change soon to offer employment to the youth, but many of our young people have the chance to take advantage of the many opportunities in the growing economy.
Young graduates should come together to set up their own businesses in the service and production sectors to maintain their keep and offer jobs to less-qualified people.
The Daily Graphic calls on the government to deal with the unemployment situation in a more decisive way to avoid disaffection among the youth.
Daily Graphic / Ghana
