Government Should Make Job Creation Top Priority

The issue of job creation remains central to Ghana's sustainable development and at the same time, a growing concern to our shared prosperity, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana (UG), has said.

He said despite considerable efforts by successive governments to create jobs in the last two decades, unemployment, particularly among graduates from the nation's universities and other tertiary institutions remained high.

He noted that the inadequacy of employment creation vis-Ã -vis the growth of the labour force has been identified as a major obstacle leading to the high unemployment rates.

Prof Owusu made these remarks in his address at the on-going 69th Annual New Year School and Conference (ANYSC) in Accra.

The ANYSC, which is being organised by the School of Continuing and Distance Education (SCDE) of the College of Education, UG, is on the theme 'Job Creation for Accelerated National Development: The Role of the Private Sector'.

The annual event provides a platform for a dispassionate discussion of important issues of national and international concern.

The week-long event, which was officially opened by Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, is under the auspices of Komos Energy, Vodafone Ghana, the nation's foremost indigenous Oil Marketing Company Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), Voltic, Daily Graphic, Prudential Bank and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, UG.

Prof Owusu said the Ghana Labour Force Survey Report (2015) by the Ghana Statistical Service projected Ghana's current unemployment rate at about 12 per cent.

He said however, a further analysis shows that graduate unemployment ages up to 25 was 30.4 per cent; stating that at the same time, on the average, 60,000 new graduates from the public universities alone potentially enter the labour market annually; adding that "This is cause for real concern.

He said the most apprehensive matter was the gap in the appropriate skill sets needed for the future workplace.

He noted that the future of work was a key discussion point at 2017 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum.

The Vice-Chancellor said rapid technological advances and the digitisation of the workplace were making it harder for young people to find jobs or match their skill sets with the needs of employers.

He said by 2020 more than one-third of skills considered important in today's workplace wound have changed as computers and machines would be performing many tasks previously done by humans.

"This obviously poses a challenge not only for the availability of jobs, but also for the future security of jobs for our youth," he said.

"There is therefore, an urgent need for government and tertiary institutions to act now to tackle the skills shortage by adopting a more proactive approach to developing the skills of the future workforce and graduates in area such as critical thinking and creativity, to give them the edge over machines and computers," he said.

Prof Owusu said the level of entrepreneurial spirit among nation's youth, particularly universities graduates was low. However, more needs to be done by all of us, particularly in the areas of mentorship schemes, internships, creation of entrepreneurial incubators in schools, development of managerial skills, review of school curriculum, and access to affordable financing.

"Additionally, agricultural, which has for a long time served as the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy does not offer the high value employment that make it attractive to graduates of tertiary institutions," he said.

He said the task of creating jobs should not be the sole responsibility of government; "it is a collective responsibility that has to be spearheaded by the private sector, which also has its own challenges.

"It is against this background that this year's theme is extremely timely and clearly reflective of the mood of the nation," he added. GNA

By Iddi Yire, GNA