A Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana, Dr. Priscilla Twumasi Baffour, has advocated for a solution-oriented approach to tackle the country’s unemployment challenges.
Emphasizing the importance of addressing challenges in the production sector, she believes it is crucial for restoring the economy and curbing unemployment.
Responding to the proposal of a 24-hour economy by John Mahama as a potential solution, Dr. Twumasi Baffour asserts that additional measures need implementation.
She questioned the proposed policy’s impact on removing hurdles faced by small and medium-sized enterprises and its focus on enhancing the education, training, and skills of individuals entering the labor market.
“What is the intervention doing in terms of removing challenges that small and medium-sized enterprises face in this country?
“What is the proposed policy doing in terms of the supply side, the education, training and skills of the people that are moving into the labour market?” .
“Skills in terms of digital skills, soft skills and all the relevant skills that the changing labour market requires in this economy,” she added.
Dr. Twumasi Baffour highlights the rapid influence of technology on production organization and stresses that any policy intervention should deliberately eliminate barriers to production while equipping the workforce with essential skills. These skills encompass digital proficiency, soft skills, and other relevant abilities demanded by the evolving labor market.
Background:
The Ghana Statistical Service reported an average unemployment rate of 14.7% for the first three quarters of 2023, marking a 1.1% increase from the 2022 figure.
Gender disparities were notable, with consistently higher unemployment rates among females.
The report revealed a widening gap in unemployment rates between urban and rural areas, with the urban rate almost twice that of rural areas in the second and third quarters of 2023. Only four regions (Eastern, Bono East, Oti, and Upper West) recorded unemployment rates lower than the national average across all quarters.