Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Creating jobs for youth security tool

The Government has secured a loan of $200million from the International Development Association of the World Bank for the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project.

Out of the amount, the Ghana Skills Development Fund (GSDF) has disbursed more than GH¢100 million as grants to some 105 enter­prises as part of the government’s overall strategy to promote industrialisation and address youth unemployment in the country.

The disbursement is in line with the objective of the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project (GJSP).

That objective is supporting skills development, including imparting fresh skills and upgrading existing ones, all in the bid to create jobs for Ghanaians and improve exist­ing ones.

At the heart of the project is the aim to help the gov­ernment to better respond to the imperative of creating more and decent jobs for the youth and the rapidly-growing labour force.

We therefore hope the details of the disbursement would show that more of the enterprises receiving the grants actually belong to young men and women.

We live in a country where university graduates, includ­ing those who have acquired specific skills like physician assistants, nurses and teach­ers, find it difficult to secure state employment.

In the circumstances, those who do not have business acumen or entrepreneurial skills or have them but do not have the resources to create their own jobs idle about.

A Global Economy data on youth unemployment in Ghana from 1991 to 2022 us­ing the age bracket of 15-24 provides such figures as 9.87 per cent to represent the aver­age value during the period, with a minimum of 4.76 per cent in 2013 and a maximum of 16.17 per cent in 2000 and the latest being 7.14 per cent for 2022.

The Global Economy research uses the age bracket 15-24 years, but the reality in the country is that even some people much older than that age bracket and are still seen as youth are unemployed.

That is to say that the Global Economy figures are far below what obtain in the country.

This means any attempt to assist the youth to set up their businesses, which can subsequently employ others, is something that must be praised.

It is laudable that the 105 enterprises given the current assistance constitute the first batch of more than 700 pri­vate enterprises earmarked to benefit from the GSDF.

These days, the mantra is that “the private sector is the engine of growth of econ­omies”, so the government must continue to support more private enterprises even after it is done with the 700 so far earmarked for support.

It should also do well to employ some of the youth in public organisations when vacancies occur due to deaths, resignations and retirement and this must be done on merit.

The situation where politi­cians and other state officials present their untouchable lists to secure employment for their favourites in the public sector must stop.

That practice is a threat to the country’s peace and stabil­ity, particularly with regard to the security services.

The country is made up of 16 regions comprising numer­ous ethnic groups, a fact we cannot wish away.

Therefore, the authorities must painstakingly do all they can to use a quota system to give state employment to the people and support to businesses, bearing in mind that they are not only giving economic assistance but also making the efforts to stem unexpected upheavals in future.