Address decent work deficit in informal sector to encourage patronage

Mr Bright Wireko-Brobby, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, has called on informal sector players to put in place measures to address the huge decent work deficit to boost patronage of their services.

He said the poor working environment and quality of products, among other things, often deterred individuals, businesses and the Government from patronising their services and products.

Mr Wireko-Brobby made the call at the 44th Certification Day of the Opportunities Industrialisation Centre Ghana (OICG)-Accra.

It was on the theme: "Nurturing Skills for Ghana's Industrialisation Drive; The Role of OICG Accra."

"Informality in itself is not bad but the decent work deficits that characterise the sector is what must be reduced if not eliminated completely because they make individuals, businesses and government uncomfortable about patronising their services and products."

"The modus operandi, working environment, quality of products, among other things often leaves much to be desired," he added.

Touching on the relevance of technical and vocational skills education, he said government was committed to supporting the schools to to develop the human resource skills required to drive the industrialisation agenda for economic transformation.

According to the 2015 Labour Force Report of the Ghana Living Standard Survey Round Six (GLSS 6), the formal sector, both public and private, would not be able to generate jobs in the required numbers to absorb the growing labour force.

"This means that a large proportion of the population would have to be guided into the informal sector, which already employs about 85 per cent of the labour force."

"This means graduates being trained by technical and vocational institutions would have to create employment opportunities to absorb the growing labour force," he said.

He said government would, therefore, work with managements of those technical and vocational institutions across the country to strengthen skills development for inclusive growth and improved employment outcomes.

Dr Daniel McKorley, the Chief Executive Officer of McDan Group of Companies, urged the youth to disabuse their minds of technical and vocational education, saying it was a sector with huge potential for wealth creation.

"I have many projects ongoing and I can tell you that a tiler at one of my sites is taking home over GHC15,000 to GHS20,000 every month. Will you compare this to any degree or to any grammar taught in any university? We have really underestimated technical education but I think technical education is the future," he said.

He called on the private sector and corporate Ghana to support technical and vocational institutions to ensure they were well equipped to provide the requisite skills training for the job market.

In all, 350 trainees from eight departments; Motor-Vehicle Mechanic, Plumbering, Graphic Arts, Office Skills, Masonry, Fashion, Catering/Hospitality and Electricals were certified, of which 187 were males and 163 females.