GHANA ' S JOBLESS GENERATION with ten years working experience, in addition to qualifications that are not offered by Ghanaian universities. The hidden condition is that anyone who has been working for ten years, would probably have built his / her own house or bought his / her car and will not overly depend on the new employer for those facilities, unlike a fresh graduate. The questions is, who will first employ the fresh graduates to gain experience before being employed by the current employer?
Nobel laureate and renowned economist, Joseph Stiglitz blames youth joblessness on the pursuit of fiscal austerity, which is reducing government spending on public services and investments that can create employment for the youth. The Ghana government for instance is implementing an IMF programme on fiscal credibility, with a condition on government to freeze public sector employment. The same IMF programme is compelling government to resort to excessive taxation in order to make more revenue. Over the last two years, excessive taxation has made Ghanaian industries globally uncompetitive, let alone expanding to create more jobs. Campanella( 2016) buttresses Stiglitz’ s point by arguing that in Africa, youth unemployment is more a consequence of sluggish labor demand perhaps, due to economic downturn.
New technology
It is a known fact that youth unemployment is made worse by globalization and new technologies of production. These new technologies and digital platforms are transforming, the nature of work itself, rendering entire sectors and occupations obsolete, while creating completely new industries and job categories. They are causing relocation or outsourcing of jobs to locations where labour is skilled, efficient and cheap.
This explains why in 2015 45 % OF THE some 38 % of employers worldwide faced trouble finding the
WORLD’ S right kind of talent – especially among young people, who are supposed to possess more updated skills than older workers( Campanella, 2016). When and how a country’ s labour becomes technologically efficient and productive is a matter for public policy. Public policy can direct the course of Ghana’ s education from purely academic- based to technology-driven, with emphasis on technical and vocational training. Our tertiary education syllabi should be relevant to our industrial needs, such that the products from our universities and tertiary institutions come out with the employable skills industry is hungry for. The Europeans charted this course during the industrial revolution and are still reaping the fruits of making education relevant to their economic aspirations.
Lately, the East European countries pursued similar policies of restructuring their education to meet their development needs, and the result is their transformed economies over a few decades. The Chinese economy was purely agrarian, few decades ago; but now thanks to quality basic, vocational and technical education, China is the leading exporter of industrial
ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE YOUNG PEOPLE ARE EITHER UNEMPLOYED OR ARE LIVING IN POVERTY, DESPITE HAVING A JOB.
2016 | Business Times Africa 55