Chamber Of Commerce And Industry Appeals For Incentives To Reduce Unemployment Rate

• Ghana's unemployment rate stands at a staggering 14.7% among individuals aged 15 to 35
• The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it can help government tackle the crisis
• It, however, added that it will need several incentives to be able to embark on this undertaking

The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry is calling on the government to provide incentives to businesses in response to the worsening unemployment crisis in the country.

Their plea comes on the back of the recent data from the 2023 Annual Household Income and Expenditure report, which revealed a staggering 14.7% unemployment rate among individuals aged 15 to 35.

The survey revealed that more than 400,000 people entered the labour force between the first and third quarters of 2023; however, over 30% of people in that bracket remained unemployed with about 60% of them gaining employment.

Read also

Emmanuel Dogbevi: Ghanaian journalist elected deputy chair of The Africa Editors Forum

“Consistently since the second quarter of 2022, we’ve seen a steady increase in our absorption rate by precisely 5.6%” the government statistician, Samuel Kobina Annim stated.

The survey also found more females than males have been employed,, with a difference averaging about 600,000 and 900,000 for 2022 and 2023 respectively.

In response to this, the president of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Clement Osei Amoako, wants the government to create a financially conducive environment for the private sector to absorb the unemployed youth.

“In the year 2023, growth retarded in the industry sector, and the industry is the main sector that employs a lot. The cost of doing business has been very high, vis a vis the cost of loans, the cost of funds; we’ll also have to look at electricity cost.

Read also

South Africa hikes taxes and social spending before vote

If the government wants to help us with some incentives to make sure that we have good money, that we’ll pay lower interests, that will help us to be able to employ a lot of people and grow our businesses,” he said.

Education Minister laments high rate of unemployment in the country

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported that the Minister of Education Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum lamented the high rate of graduate unemployment in the country.

Dr Adutwum attributed the high unemployment rate to certain courses offered in tertiary institutions across the country.

According to him, some of these courses do not have a ready job market, hence students applying for these courses have no job prospects by the time they graduate.

He added that some other courses also do not meet industry standards, hence students leaving school are not able to meet the requirements of the job market.

Source: YEN.com.gh