As part of the measures to deal with the prevalent unemployment in the country, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has recommended that the country make Entrepreneurial Development courses compulsory in all public and private universities across the country.
As the country approaches the crucial 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, IEA believes that any party or movement that emerges victorious should tackle the unemployment crisis through the introduction of compulsory entrepreneurial development courses for all first-year students in both public and private universities.
In a Policy Brief focusing on the Policy Priorities for the Incoming Government published by the economic think tank, the IEA contended that “Ghana’s economic growth has been erratic, unbalanced and below the country’s potential” leading to high unemployment among the youth coupled with underemployment.
“Youth unemployment is also compounded by lack of entrepreneurial skills, skills-job mismatches, and overreliance on an already-choked public service for employment. Youth unemployment is a potential social problem that cannot be left unattended to,” portions of the IEA Policy Brief explained.
To address what some analysts have described as a ticking time bomb, the IEA recommends formal and deliberate training of university students in the skills of entrepreneurial development.
This compulsory training in entrepreneurship, the IEA believes will nurture the creativity, critical thinking, and entrepreneurial mindset of all students so that they will be in the best position to create their unemployment after school.
“A compulsory entrepreneurial development course should be introduced in all universities in the country -whether private or public- for all first-year students,” the IEA indicated.
Other measures recommended by the IEA to complement this effort include the provision of entrepreneurial training for the youth and the disabled to make them more self-employable.
Moreover, rural agriculture and agribusiness the IEA says should be promoted to attract the youth into those sectors to replace ageing workers.
On the broader economic level, IEA is also calling for the establishment of development finance institutions to fund long-term investments and strategic sectors, like agriculture and manufacturing. In addition, targeted support should be provided to SMEs, especially fledgling, potentially viable ones, rather than leaving them to compete with cheap imports that often benefit from subsidies in countries of origin.
Meanwhile, political parties and movements aspiring to contest in the 2024 General Elections have already outdoored their strategies to tackle the unemployment menace. The flagship promise of the NDC and former President John Dramani Mahama to deal with the situation is a 24-Hour Economy where different shifts will created in some critical sectors of the economy to accommodate more workers.
Leader of The New Force Movement, Nana Kwame Bediako says he is optimistic that his flagship regional industrialization agenda can provide 8 million jobs in a decade. Vice President and the aspirant of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu believes the unemployment jinx can be broken through innovations and digitalization of the economy.
