unemployment in ghana

What The Government Could Do To Create More Job Avenues For The Youth And Graduates Of Higher Institutions Of Ghana.

Graduate unemployment is the situation where a number of people do not have jobs which will provide them with money. This problem is mostly found in Developing Countries such as Ghana where jobs are limited to graduates produced every year. Graduate unemployment is one of the social problems draining Ghana of her power to make use of the youth and graduates from the Tertiary Institutions. Unemployment ranges high among the youth who constitute the highest populace in Ghana and it is a draining situation for graduates who have successfully climbed the academic ladder.

Corporate Organisations have complained about the kind of graduates the Universities produce. This indicates that the ‘Products’ Universities provide do not meet the standard or requirements of many Organisations. This brings the question, ‘What is the Government doing to create avenues for the youth and graduates?’

For years now it has been obvious that the Government have not been of much help in creating avenues for the youth and graduates. The inability of the Government to providing the right jobs for graduates in respect to the Programme they specialized in has led many graduates to stay in jobs they are not familiar with or hate to do leading to them not being productive.

Political Parties during their campaign for power come out with wonderful, interesting and mouth watering promises about creating job avenues and getting jobs for the educated and uneducated youth. In the long run when they get into power, they show up to tell the populace different stories from what they have said initially. They come out with the excuse of bad Economy and forget their promise to the electorate.
The situation so far proves it is obvious Government cannot handle this issue alone without the help of other stakeholders in the Education Sector.

The Government can therefore encourage partnership between Corporate and Educational Institutions. Government should encourage Organisations to partner with at least one Educational Institution to ensure that graduates produced will meet the standard of Corporate Bodies. Organisations like Nestle, MTN, Anglogold Asante, Vodafone, Unilever, ADB, etc. can partner with some Educational Institutions to train students to fall into the required standard. For instance, Vodafone, Zain, or Tigo can partner with NIIT, KNUST etc. to give them training so as to fit into their standard.

Also, the Government can meet with Education Providers to come out with new Programme and Syllabi to suit the new World of Business. Some Syllabi studied today do not fit into the changing World of Business. With the rise of many businesses, there will be a change in ways of conducting business.

Again, Government can pass a policy to encourage and motivate Corporate Bodies to fulfill their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Organisations can be made to consider the interest of society by taking responsibility of the society they are in. CSR is not governed by any law and this is where the Government can make laws to force Corporate Bodies to fulfill their Corporate Responsibility.

Policies can also be made for Corporate to periodically give opportunities for internship and attachment to students during vacations. Government can make commitment towards goals like tax rebates and tax exemptions for Corporate who partake in the internship and attachment for a period of time, for instance ten (10) to fifteen (15) years.
However, Government can make a policy for Privatization of Assets so that a percentage of graduates from Tertiary Institutions will be employed in companies that are privatized.

Furthermore, Government can sponsor graduates into Entrepreneurship. Government can also encourage Corporate Bodies to sponsor graduates into Entrepreneurship. This can be done by Government encouraging corporate bodies to sponsor graduates who present Projects to start something on their own. Government can also support Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) that seeks to eradicate graduate unemployment like Zoomlion and others.

Equally, the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) can be intensified to at least if not earning the youth enough money to give them some years experience since this is what graduates face today. Every vacancy announcement demands at least a three (3) years working experience. This is where the question arises, ‘Who should train for whom to use?’ the NYEP can help the youth a lot to get the required experience and Government must encourage it.

Finally, in trying to solve the problem of unemployment rises the laying off of workers. Now the question is, ‘Are these workers being laid off for newly graduates to be employed or they are being laid off for personal aggrandizement, partisan politics, dislike or favoritism employment commonly known as ‘to whom you know’ or ‘protocol’. Hmmmmmmmmmm!