The 2016 Presidential Candidate of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described as unacceptable
the high level of unemployment in the country.Speaking at a forum in the
capital-Accra, Nana Addo said the situation will worsen if pragmatic measures
are not put in place to create jobs.
Youth unemployment represents a
serious threat to the stability of the country with the jobless rate becoming a
worrying trend as the economic growth or the real GDP growth fell behind the
expansion of the labour force.
Successive governments failed to create
jobs for new graduates entering the job market. Nonetheless there is an absence
of a viable private sector in Ghana, to absorb the teeming unemployed youth in
Ghana.
The onus of creating jobs fall squarely on the shoulders of the
government, and needs to create an estimated 400,000 jobs annually if the
unemployment rate is to be fully addressed.
However, the Flagbearer of
the main opposition said an NPP government will ensure massive job creation in
the country by expanding the productive base of the Ghanaian economy and
enhancing enterprise growth.
“Today the greatest challenge confronting
our nation is the unprecedented high level of unemployment among the youth.
According to the World Bank about 48% of Ghanaians between the ages of 15-24 yrs
are unemployed whiles over 18% of those aged between 25-64 yrs are inactive or
unemployed and actively looking for jobs.More than 150,000 students leave school
at various levels of education every year for the job market in Ghana,” he
bemoaned. |
