GHANA ' S JOBLESS GENERATION
and consumable items. A chunk of China’ s exports year on year land in Africa. This explains why Malaysia and South Korea, whose economies were at par with Ghana’ s at independence are now several centuries ahead of us. China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea etc have moved from emerging economies to developed economies by third world standards.
Political disaster
When the young are idle, economies lose dynamism, innovation falters, and valuable human capital is wasted. But the political consequences can be even more alarming. Albert O. Hirschman’ s seminal book Exit, Voice, and Loyalty provides a useful framework to understand how the marginalization of young people leads to mild or extreme political disasters. When the quality of a political system declines, its members can withdraw(“ exit”), improve the situation through direct action(“ voice”), or passively accept decay(“ loyalty”)( Campanella, 2016).
Exit is the least traumatic way out of the problem – especially for top professionals. In Africa, for example, the legal outflow of skilled people to developed countries has intensified. Columbia University’ s Jagdish Bhagwati argues that this is the inevitable consequence of economic backwardness. The“ brain drain”( especially in the health sector) reflects developing countries’ inability to absorb the skills they actually need. According to Serufusa Sekidde, a consultant with Oxford Policy Management, 80 % of countries where there are fewer than 22.8 skilled health workers for every 10,000 people are in Africa( Campanella, 2016).
In 2011, the greatest global mobilization since 1968 led to the emergence of peaceful movements like‘ Occupy Wall Street’,‘ Occupy Ghana’ and the initially peaceful Arab Spring in the Middle East. And now China’ s leaders fear that its graduate unemployment rate could fuel another Tiananmen-style unrest. In Ghana, the proliferation of unemployed youth groups and mass actions to demand a stake in the national economy cannot be wished away as mere phenomena. It is a foretaste of events to come unless duty bearers act quickly to address youth joblessness.
What Solutions?
IN 2012, THE ILO ADOPTED A CALL FOR ACTION ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT, AND THE EU LAUNCHED ITS YOUTH EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE
Not surprisingly, youth unemployment tops the global policy agenda today. In 2012, the ILO adopted a Call for Action on Youth Employment, and the EU launched its Youth Employment Initiative. The United Nations has also placed the issue in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. And I am placing youth joblessness on the 2016 election agenda. It is my desire that all presidential aspirants and parliamentary candidates should tell the electorate how their governments will overcome youth joblessness. The youth should elect a president or MP based on their ability to reverse joblessness and create jobs.
The OECD’ s Andreas Schleischer argues that“ in the past, education was about imparting knowledge. Today, it is about providing students with the tools to navigate an increasingly uncertain world”( Campanella, 2016).
Mary McAleese, a former president of Ireland, emphasizes the need to develop differentiated education systems, ranging from Germany’ s vocational schools and apprenticeships to programs that give students access to international experience. McKinsey’ s Mona Mourshed urges private companies to cooperate more with educators to ensure that curricula keep pace with employers’ needs( ibid).
IN GHANA, AS IN OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES, LABOR MARKETS ARE SKEWED IN FAVOR OF OLDER WORKERS. EMPLOYERS ARE ADVERTISING FOR QUALIFIED PEOPLE WITH TEN YEARS WORKING EXPERIENCE
56 Business Times Africa | 2016