Over the years, graduate unemployment has been a major problem for this country and successive governments have not been able to solve it as expected. Getting employment in Ghana is very difficult and job creation has turned to become the only solution. We are failing as a nation to outline the root causes of this graduate unemployment situation in Ghana but rather trying to reduced it. It can never be reduce if we don’t find solutions to the causes. From information I have gathered I think that the following factors are the main causes of graduate employment:

There is a very big gap between academia and industry, and this is one of the major causes of graduate unemployment in the country. Our educational institutions seem to be producing only academicians, who end up not solving the problems of the day. Outmoded courses are still being taught in our educational institutions with obsolete equipment and technologies. This is not the case in some advanced countries, where the educational institutions take the problems of the day and try to solve them. This is as a result of the fact that the methods of teaching in these countries are enhanced. In Ghana we can find a mechanical student giving you all the functions of a car engine but when you ask that same student to identify a part he mentioned during his presentation and it becomes a problem. In our educational institutions you will find a lecturer who has taught for many years and has refused to make way for young lecturers and is “still living on his past’s glory”. Our educational institutions have refused to expand facilities, employ modern equipment and also introduce relevant courses to meet the job market.

Most graduates tend to only search for jobs with good working conditions forgetting that the journey of a thousand mile begins with one step. Most university graduates will not accept employment for field works; rather they would like to sit at the office under air condition. Graduates would accept employment on the condition that they are given a car, a driver, an apartment and a fully finished office. In addition graduates would like to work in a town or city thereby rendering them unemployed since the towns and cities are chocked with a lot of graduates unemployed.

In Ghana, those that are responsible for recruiting people into job turn to favour their relatives and loved ones rather than employing the right person and this, unfortunately has become the order of the day.

Good paying jobs are the ones graduates tend to concrete on, ignoring the experience they will acquire. Nowadays, every job requirements demands work experience and this can be achieved by engaging yourself in voluntary service. It is however unfortunate that graduates in Ghana do not want to involve themselves in voluntary works, so how are their gathering these work experience.

BAYOR CEPHAS KANYIRI E-mail: kanyiriacid@yahoo.com Tel: +233 245001658