Job creation can’t be a hollow promise - Dr. Manuel

South African National Planning Commission Minister, Dr. Trevor Manuel, has said that job creation is critical to the sustenance of peace and development, and must not be used as a tool for political gimmicks.

Mr. Manuel said the challenge of youth unemployment is one that has the potential to disrupt economic progress and the peaceful atmosphere when not checked.

“If we fail to act collectively the odds are that we will have millions of frustrated youth running riot, infecting the politics and the economics of development.

“The share of working-age people in paid employment across the continent is incredibly low.

“The idea of jobs cannot be a hollow promise made to desperate people. Tough as the responsibility of employment creation in our economies is, we cannot avoid it -- and we must increasingly talk about the challenge in polite company,” he said.

Dr. Manuel, whose home-country has in the recent past experienced social and economic effects of youth agitation due to idle hands, noted this at the 3rd Global Development Series in Accra last Thursday.

He said the private sector is best-placed to absorb most of the unemployed, and must be supported to do as much.

“For household incomes to rise, more people have to work. A relatively small number of people are likely to get jobs in the public service or in big corporations, so we must innovate through sustainable livelihoods and beyond,” he added.

Dr. Manuel’s insights are shared by many policymakers and businessmen who have expressed uneasiness about the growing unemployment rate in the country.

Unemployment, according to the ILO, is among the biggest threats to social stability in many countries -- including Ghana, where the economy has been expanding very fast but creating very few jobs.

Recently, the Chief Executive of rlg Communications, Roland Agambire, noted that the issue of youth unemployment in most African countries is so complex, sensitive and yet thorny that it requires a concerted, multifaceted and deep-rooted approach toward its resolution.

He said while the reduction or elimination of the phenomenon will require a non-partisan collaboration between governments, the private sector and the youth themselves, a firm demonstration of commitment by the international community will also ensure threats to peaceful socio-political atmosphere in many African countries, especially the emerging economies, are not guaranteed.

The Ghana Statistical Service, the statutory body mandated to collect statistics of unemployment and other figures on the economy, has reported that the unemployment rate in the country on September 26, 2010 was 5.8%, which appears to seriously underestimate the degree of the problem.

The sadder aspect is that until the recent publication based on the 2010 census, there were no up-to-date data on unemployment and the characteristics of people who were employed -- including in which sectors they were working.

As such, policies geared towards job-creation are either hit and missed or misguided.

It is even feared that growth and unemployment could in fact worsen if the economy does not ward off the approach of Dutch Disease, a situation characterised by the dominance of the oil sector over other industries -- particularly agriculture and manufacturing.