Towards more sustainable youth employment

The announcement by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) last Tuesday that it had so far employed 62,825 people as part of measures by the government to address the unemployment situation in the country is welcome news.

Also gratifying is the fact that the YEA intends to increase that number to the 100,000 target set for 2016 to afford more youth the opportunity to get employed.

Indeed, we laud the Chief Executive Officer of the YEA, Mr Kobina Obu Beecham Jnr, and his team for recruiting, training and deploying these young men and women, who otherwise would have loitered, to become community police assistants, community teachers, community health workers, fire service assistants, among other engagements.

The inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the YEA programme with the recruitment, training and deployment of 633 of them under various models and the employment of 21 by the YEA also needs commendation.

The Daily Graphic is especially happy that youth aged between 15 and 35 are receiving invaluable training in various disciplines to assist their communities and the nation in various ways.

The training will also equip them not only to gain employable skills but boost their confidence to start something on their own. 

We, however, believe that employing the beneficiaries for just two years after they have been taken through training may not effectively and quickly deal with the rising unemployment situation as we would want to.

Laying tens of thousands of people off to fend for themselves after two years, just to employ others, may not work the desired magic, in spite of the training given to them.

While some would require longer periods of employment after training for their confidence to be boosted to start something on their own, others who may want to be employed may have limited avenues to explore. 

Moreover, while the start-up capital given to beneficiaries may be inadequate, there may also be some challenges with the timely release of the funds per the exit plan to enable the beneficiaries to take up entrepreneurial ventures based on the skills acquired during the two-year period of engagement. 

These need to be dealt with speedily. 

The Daily Graphic believes that the most sustainable way of solving Ghana’s youth unemployment nightmare is to diversify the economy.

Currently, Ghana is a raw material-producing economy and so it experiences so many external shocks with the flucuating prices of cocoa, gold, crude oil and the like.

While we train the youth in the different modules, we also need to create the enabling environment for entrepreneurs to flourish in their trades and be able to employ workers.

Otherwise, the YEA may do all the training for thousands of youth and give them employable skills but they will end up at home because they can neither create jobs nor gain employment.

We, therefore, urge the government to develop the right policies that will create the right business environment for all kinds of businesses to spring up and flourish.