Joblessness: Gov’t unhappy; working to fix it – Minister

Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, has said his ministry and all the agencies under it will not relent on their efforts in linking jobless Ghanaians to jobs.

He stated during the launch of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) Job Centre at the Bank of Ghana Auditorium at the University of Ghana in Accra on Wednesday, 2 October 2019, that even if it is one person who has no job in the country, the government cannot be happy.

To that end, he said, the ministry won’t relax in helping jobless Ghanaians get employed.

“The Ministry of Employment and Labur relations together with its agencies where YEA is one of the leading agencies will never relent in its efforts in making sure that we link people who are looking for jobs to jobs.

“The ultimate is that even if you have one person looking for job and he is not getting it you cannot be happy.”

For his part, the Board Chair of the YEA, Sammi Awuku, said Ghana is a shining light with regards to the implementation of polices geared towards assisting the youth.

Quoting the International Labour Organization (ILO), Mr Awuku said: “In Africa today the youth account for more than 60 per cent of all unemployed individuals on the continent

“The ILO further estimates that in sub-sahara Africa alone approximately 6 million youth will enter the labour market each year over the 10 years.”

He explained that: “This situation indeed calls for pragmatic measures to be taken by national governments to provide windows of training and job placement for the youth.

“Undoubtedly, Ghana has remained the key success story on our continent with regards to the implementation of policy measures aimed at tackling the youth unemployment menace.”