Employment Minister speaks on Gov’t resolve to create job opportunities for the youth

The Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffuor –Awuah, has spoken on Government’s resolve to mitigate growing unemployment by creating job opportunities for individuals particularly the youth.

 “The major preoccupation of the government is to make sure that people who complete school or people that have reached the working age have access to work, and as I said per Ghana’s classification, work take places within the Agric sector, the manufacturing sector and then the services sector. As a responsible government what we do is that we create opportunities within all these areas to make sure that people are engaged”.

Ignatius Baffuor –Awuah

He made this revelation on account of the debilitating effect of the coronavirus pandemic, iterating that the government has progressively made plans to engage the youth in areas of agriculture, manufacturing and services.

The Minister further opined that government is resolute in nipping the bud of unemployment brought on by the pandemic. His speech was made at an AGI Joint Regional Webinar for six regions on the theme ‘Minimizing the impact of COVID-19 on job losses; building resistance and strategies.

 “That is why immediately after the assumption of office, his Excellency the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched the planting for food and jobs. Because we have done the study with ILO and the conclusions are that if you want to provide quick job for the masses of people, it takes little investment to be able to get more people in the agriculture sector than perhaps in all other sectors of the economy.”

Ignatius Baffuor –Awuah

There has been a litany of job losses as a dire consequence of the pandemic. And by virtue of that, a lot of businesses have been forced to close down or furlough staff.

Prior to this, the Trades Union Congress, TUC, appealed to government to inject about 18 billion cedis into the various sectors of the economy to help alleviate the plight of businesses and also projected job losses due to COVID-19.

Job loss due to Pandemic

On May 1, 2020, Dr. Yaw Baah, TUC, Secretary-General, said an ongoing research by the Labour Research and Policy Institute of TUC, showed the devastating effects of the COVID-19 health crisis on jobs and livelihoods in both the formal and informal segments of the economy.

He cited an example of a company which exports drinks and had lost tons of its raw materials including mangoes, pineapple, pawpaw because it could not export due to border closures around the world.

“All casual and contract workers have been laid off. The company has also stopped all overtime work. As a result, workers’ incomes have reduced drastically. The company is struggling to pay workers, pay social security, pay taxes and repay bank loans”.

He said the TUC agrees with the recommendations submitted by Ghana Employers Association’s to the Minister for Finance; calling on Government to quickly develop and implement a comprehensive Economic Response Strategic to deal with the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This, he said, would require stabilization and stimulus packages for businesses and households to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the economy, adding that the GH¢600 million announced by government was a good start, but more support was needed for businesses.