Minister of Employment and Labour Relations Ignatius Baffour Awuah is being accused of misleading the public on the impact of the job creation efforts of the Nana Akufo-Addo led administration.
The Employment minister is reported to have said in 2018 that the government has created 1,096,404 jobs since assuming power in 2017.
This claim is however being challenged by the Association of Graduates in Skills Development-Ghana (AGSD-GH), formerly known as the Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana (UGAG).
In a statement, President of the Association Desmond Bress-Biney said the claim if true means government has dealt with 90% of Ghana’s unemployment problem considering a 2017 survey report released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) placed the unemployment rate a little higher than 1.2 million persons representing 11.9% of the population.
This, the Association believes cannot be accurate and is “clearly not the true representation of situation, because things continue to get tougher”.
According to AGSD-GH, the unemployment situation is rather increasing at an alarming rate and needs to be urgently dealt with.
The Association is of the opinion that the current state of unemployment poses a national security threat to the nation.
The unemployment situation, the Association argues is further worsened by the prevalence of “high rates of poorly paid and unprotected jobs” on the Ghanaian labour market.
Government has since coming to power trumpeted the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), Planting for Food and Jobs, 1 District 1 Factory, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plans (NEIP), Youth in Afforestation as key interventions that will provide jobs for the scores of unemployed youth.
AGSD-GH however says these programs and other interventions have “not been able to help resolve the situation because it is implemented without proper strategies and exit plans.”
“AGSD-GH therefore calls on the president to desist from short term job interventions with few months to elections, ostensibly to win votes.”
“Government must step up their efforts to creating an enabling environment and creating sustainable jobs to address long-term unemployment,” the group argued.
Story: Sena Nombo/Radiogoldlive.com
