National Employment Policy launched

Ghana yesterday took a bold step towards the adoption of a more effective and focused employment strategy with the launch of the first-ever National Employment Policy.

The policy, which rests on specific pillars, including employability and sustainability, will see the nation pursuing an inclusive strategy, but with the private sector in a more dominant role, to create productive employment and decent work for Ghanaians,  especially the youth.

Attempts to create a national policy in the past fizzled out, and in the words of the Secretary-General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah, in one instance in 2006, the planned launch of a national employment policy turned out to be a mere workshop.

President John Dramani Mahama, who launched the 56-page document yesterday at a well-attended National Jobs Summit at the Accra International Conference Centre, could not hide his joy at the birth of the policy, saying, "The spirit behind this policy will be rigorously pursued."

But the age-old canker of potentially productive national documents and research recommendations gathering dust on the shelves without being implemented was raised by some speakers at the ceremony.

Gurus in the labour sector, including the Executive Director of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), Mr Alex Frimpong, and the TUC boss, wanted to see the fine details of the policy and the final decisions at the summit implemented for the benefit of the people, especially the youth.

Importance of summit

The two-day job summit, on the theme: “Inclusive growth through creation of productive employment and decent work", is being attended by labour and youth groups, employers and other sections of society.

The opening ceremony was significant by the presence of the President and a number of heavyweights from the labour front from within and outside the country, including the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Dr Guy Ryder. 

Topics being discussed at the summit include placing employment and decent work at the centre of a sustainable national development agenda; establishing the linkages among productive sectors for job creation, and harnessing job creation opportunities in labour migration and the maritime sector.

Employment situation 

President Mahama walked the gathering through the job situation from the immediate post-independence era to the present and said circumstances had changed drastically, which demanded prudent measures to meet the challenges.

In all that, he said, the government had not relaxed and continued to implement measures that would grant the youth a better future.

"That is why we are refocusing our educational policy to centre on skills acquisition," he said.

Informal sector

The President repeated the need for the transformation of the structure of the economy to help extricate the country from economic challenges.

One after another, the President mentioned the number of industries that his government was establishing or reviving and said they would create thousands of jobs for the youth.

He also challenged Ghanaians to take advantage of the Local Content Law in the oil and gas sector.

Acknowledging the role of investors in national development, President Mahama said the government was eliminating discrimination between local and foreign investors to give a level playing field to all.

Youth employment 

He said he had given Presidential Assent to the Youth Employment Policy which was targeted at creating over 100,000 jobs under the various modules, including textiles, which targets ‘kayayei’.

President Mahama said the Labour Department was to undergo restructuring and be christened the National Employment Resource Centre.

“It will create a national employment database in which employers will go for needed skills and in return be given tax exemptions,” he said.

TUC boss

For his part, Mr Asamoah said the launch of the job policy was a great achievement for the nation and commended the President for that.

The energy crisis, he said, was seriously having a toll on jobs, but expressed the hope that a solution would be found to it soon.

Ghana, he said, had achieved remarkable economic growth in the last two decades but unemployment among the educated youth was unacceptably high, thereby eroding some of the gains made.

Inconsistencies in the trade policies of the nation were also a concern to him, saying the situation was killing local industries.

Consequently,he wanted all policies to be assessed on the extent to which they were able to create jobs.

While promising that organised labour would play its role in ensuring the success of the policy, he also stressed the need for the nation to tap into the expertise of the ILO on the implementation of the policy.

ILO Chief

Mr Ryder congratulated Ghana on launching the job policy and stressed the determination of the ILO to support the country to see through the implementation of the initiative.

The formulation of an action plan for the policy was crucial, he said, and added that the Ghanaian economy should create more decent jobs for the youth.

He welcomed the idea that the creation of decent work was at the centre of the President's own agenda for national transformation.

While acknowledging Ghana's impressive growth in some of the sectors of the economy, he indicated that long-term growth depended greatly on labour productivity.