100,000 jobs needed yearly

Accra, Oct. 12, GNA - A study on the job situation in Ghana revealed that the country must be able to produce at least 100,000 sustainable jobs every year for the next ten years to get overcome unemployment. Mr Akumba Ben Asamoaning, Country Representative of Amicus Onlus, a non governmental organization with the objective of directing young people into productive and income generating activities said on Friday He said the study carried out by Amicus Onlus recognized that in spite of efforts to create jobs, unemployment remained a problem to grapple with everyday.
"There is therefore the need to examine again the issue of job creation from a new perspective. The time has come for us to embrace change in our quest to create jobs. Ghana needs to embrace the new world order."
Mr. Asamoaning was speaking at the Third Amicus Youth Empowerment Summit 2007 which focused on enhancing the youth's knowledge about entrepreneurial skills and business opportunities.
"The main goal of Amicus Youth Empowerment Summit was, is and will always be to provide a platform that will inform and educate our youth on how to create jobs, but most importantly to avoid destructive and debilitating attitudes."
He pointed out that the government alone could not create jobs but could put in place sound and bold policies to guarantee a bright future. Mr. Asamoaning urged the youth to understand their role in the development of their future and said we can not afford to disappoint our forefathers who fought with their tears, blood and lives to give as this nation.
Nana Akomea, Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, observed that the impact of Ghana's economic growth on employment had been slow hence the introduction of the National Youth Employment Programme to help solve the unemployment problem, especially among the youth. He pointed out that there was a correlation between economic growth and employment generation, however the country's economy need to grow by eight percent to be able to generate the desired employment growth rate. Nana Akomea said government was poised to facilitate quality human resource development with focus on the youth and mentioned that a draft youth policy and action plan were being drawn by carefully selected youth and it would be taken to cabinet by the end of the year. He said the sector Ministry had been involved in skills and leadership training through the National Vocational Technical Institute (NVTI) and the National Youth Council in a bid to help reduce unemployment among the youth.
The Minister mentioned the community policing, teaching and nursing programmes under the NYEP as interim measures being taken by government to reduce unemployment and said so far, 103,000 youth have been employed through the programme.
Touching on entrepreneurship, Nana Akomea said under the new educational reform students at the junior and senior high schools as well as those in tertiary institutions would take a compulsory course in entrepreneurship regardless of the subject of study to equip them to set up their own businesses when they were out of school
Mr. Herman Chinery-Hesse, Chief Executive Officer of Soft Tribe Limited, a renowned computer software firm, however said that government could not create jobs, explaining that the role of government was to facilitate the development of private businesses.
He said there was numerous opportunities in the country to make any individual start a business, "every solution to a problem is a potential job and wealth creation venture."
Mr. Chinery-Hesse urged the youth not to depend on government for jobs or stay at home waiting for employment opportunities since starting a business only depended on the will and not money at one's disposal. "As a country we need to get more people paying taxes," he said instead of every body depending on the government to earn a salary. He said Africa was doing only about two percent of global business even though there were a lot of natural resources, skills and talents that could be explored.
"There is a hunger for African products in Europe," he said and urged the youth to be up and doing.