48% unemployment rate in Ghana unacceptable – Akufo-Addo

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.