Ghana needs a 24-hour economy – Labour expert

Labour expert, Austin Gamey has said government needs to implement a 24-hour economy to put the economy back on a sound footing.

He opined that implementing the 24-hour economy will help curb the high unemployment canker that keeps rearing its head up.

Speaking in an interview with Citi News, Mr Gamey said, “The way the economy has gone into the abyss at the moment, if we don’t introduce a planned and well-thought economy, we cannot catch up because we owe so much.”

“Because of poor management of the economy, we have this galloping unemployment on our hands and I strongly believe that whoever, be it the proponent of the policy, the NPP adopting it, [Hassan] Ayariga and Alan Kyerematen [and other presidential aspirants] must be ready to accept that we must introduce a 24-hour economy in Ghana and anything short of that, the person should not be elected," the labour expert stated.

Meanwhile, Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama made known his intention to introduce a 24-hour economy when voted back into office as the President of Ghana in 2024.

The move, he said will breathe fresh life into the ailing economy which is currently under an IMF bailout programme.

What is the 24-Hour Economy?

The 24-hour economy is simply an economic strategy that involves putting measures in place to ensure that businesses across various sectors in an economy operate both at night and in the day.

In other words, there would be a night economy and a day economy.

The 24-hour economy will also be in a three-shift system of 8 hours each, by creating an enabling environment that promotes productivity, competitiveness and well-paying jobs.

The strategy is aimed at ensuring that the economy is as vibrant during the day as it is at night so as to create more employment opportunities.

So essentially, businesses are to put measures in place to ensure that they are in operation every hour of the day. These measures include employing more staff and running a shift system.

Since John Mahama mentioned introducing it, he has faced vehement criticism and commendation from some sections of the public.

SA/MA

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