The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) is preparing to launch the Graduates in Corporate Support (GRICS) programme, a strategic initiative aimed at addressing persistent graduate unemployment and supporting the country’s transition to a 24-hour economy. The programme is designed to place 20,000 unemployed university graduates into formal work placements within private sector firms and industrial entities nationwide. GRICS forms a central component of the government’s broader labour market policy, matching surplus skilled labour with under-resourced corporate functions while enhancing productivity through expanded operational coverage.
This targeted intervention reflects a deliberate pivot from temporary job schemes to long-term, skills-based integration. It seeks to correct the structural mismatch between the country’s tertiary education outputs and its capacity for labour absorption, a challenge that has fueled rising graduate joblessness.
GRICS, will deploy graduates across sectors such as finance, logistics, telecommunications, and light manufacturing, where 24-hour staffing and administrative continuity are increasingly vital. By subsidizing the cost of these placements through the YEA, the programme lowers the barrier for private sector firms to onboard entry-level talent and reduces risk associated with hiring untested graduates.
The initiative is expected to absorb qualified but idle young professionals, easing pressure on an oversaturated labour market. For the graduates, GRICS offers a tangible pathway from academic qualifications to demand-driven employment. For companies, it provides access to human capital critical to sustaining continuous operations in line with the government’s emerging 24-hour economic framework. Unlike previous interventions, the programme embeds participants in real corporate environments, rather than artificial or state-administered roles, creating a direct link between national human capital and productive enterprise.
The introduction of GRICS will complement existing policy measures aimed at tackling structural unemployment, including the country’s first Qualifications and Skills Mismatch Survey (QSMS), which seeks to identify and close gaps between educational training and industry requirements. With over a third of its population under the age of 35, Ghana faces mounting pressure to align its labour policies with the demands of a young and rapidly expanding workforce.
The success of GRICS could not only contribute to stabilizing the domestic job market but also offer a replicable model for emerging economies across the continent seeking to translate demographic potential into inclusive economic growth.
