Ghana’s rising youth unemployment is policy failure – FOSDA

The Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) is alarmed by the unemployment rates released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) under the Labour Statistics Report.

According to the government statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, 25% of young people age 15–35 were not in employment, education, or training (NEET) across the first three quarters of 2022. This amounts to 2.5 million people, or 1 out of every 4 young people.

“The report also indicated that about 1.76 million people were unemployed in the third quarter of 2022, and two out of every three unemployed people were female. Prior to this, data on Ghana’s youth unemployment fluctuated from 6% to 13% between 2016 and 2021.

“This is a worrying development considering the demographic dividends Ghana could benefit from the youthful nature of its population. The report clearly shows that the numerous government youth employment interventions and initiatives such as NABCO, YouStart, and YEA, among many others, have failed to sustainably address the youth unemployment situation in the country,” the Executive Director for FOSDA, Theodora W. Anti disclosed in a press release dated May 5, 2023.

She continued: “For instance, by July 2022, the government of Ghana’s expenditure on NABCO was GH2.2 billion. Additionally, expenditure on YouStart during the pilot phase was GH 1.98 million out of the planned GH 10 billion. In spite of all these expenditures, unemployment keeps rising.”

According to her, the high rate of NEET among the youth in Ghana is a staggering call to adopt an alternative and sustainable approach to addressing the problem of youth unemployment.

“It is a well known fact that the growing number of idle young people poses a serious security challenge. Recent UNDP research on the drivers of violent extremism has confirmed youth unemployment as a key driver of extremism and terrorism. The worse the situation gets, the more vulnerable Ghana becomes.

“It is crucial at the moment to take urgent short-term measures with long-term effects, including efficient and inclusive implementation of existing youth employment interventions,” madam Anti stated.

FOSDA is therefore calling on the National Youth Employment Strategy to address the menace of youth unemployment on a long-term and comprehensive basis.

“We also urge the government to scale up reforms in the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) section focusing on transition from school to job approaches as both short- and long-term measures to tackle youth employment.

FOSDA also urges the government to consider more investment in agribusiness, entrepreneurship, apprenticeship, construction, tourism, and sports as key sectors that can offer increased employment opportunities for Ghanaian youth both in the short and long term.

“We also call for more investments in career guidance and counselling, work-based learning, coaching, and mentoring to equip young people with the skills needed for work,” she added.