Job creation is one of the major agenda of the government in its quest to reduce the level of joblessness in the country, especially among the youth. As such, the Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Mr. Wireko-Brobbey, has called on the private sector to partner government to help achieve President Akufo-Addo’s goal of providing one million jobs in the medium-term. According to the Deputy Minister, it will be very difficult for the government alone to create the jobs without the support of the private sector.

“In order to consolidate the gains of the implementation of previous job creation interventions, the President, a couple of weeks ago, reiterated his resolve in targeting one million jobs in a couple of years to come. In view of this, the relevant institutions are working feverishly to get the work done.

“It is an inevitable truth that government cannot do it all alone and definitely requires support from individuals and organizations”.

Commitment to improve labour market

In an attempt to create a system that will enhance job creation in the country,the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations assured that it will invest in policies that will improve the Ghanaian labour market. According to Mr. Wireko-Brobbey, his outfit is committed to providing job opportunities and entrepreneurial skills, especially during these trying times of COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the Ghana Job Fair 2021, Mr. Wireko-Brobbey noted that the government is poised to strengthening the monetary structures of the labour market to ensure regular income for both employer and employee. He pointed out that the Ghana Job Fair has so far produced some positive results and should be continued.

“It is interesting to know that since inception, over 7000 people have participated in this job fair. About 1,455 job vacancies have been declared so far and over 380 placements have also been secured. Despite the results of the program, I wish to suggest that we do evaluation to ascertain its impact over the last three years, and how it has contributed in addressing youth unemployment and regular migration”.

Success at the workplace

On his part, the head of Ghanaian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration, Benjamin Woesten, highlighted innovation as a major factor to succeed in the working space.

“The lesson over the past three years is that; be innovative, adapt to circumstances and you will succeed. Overall, the job fairs that we have organized have had over 7,000 participants and for this hybrid edition, we currently have over 3,000 registrants”.

The Ghana Job Fair 2021 was organized by the Ghanaian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration in collaboration with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and the German Industry and Commerce in Ghana. The aim of the job fair is to connect employers and job seekers to help tackle the rising unemployment in the country.

Labor market remains fragile

Meanwhile, data from the Bank of Ghana show that the number of jobs advertised in selected print and online media, which gauges labour demand in the economy declined in the first quarter of 2021 relative to what was observed in the first quarter of 2020.

In the first quarter of 2021, a total of 8,840 job adverts were recorded compared to 9,537 recorded in the first quarter of 2020. This represents a year-on-year decline of 7.3 percent. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Ghana attributed the decrease in the number of jobs advertised, year-on-year, to the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses.

Nevertheless, the number of job vacancies advertised in the review period represents an improvement over the developments in the last quarter of 2020. According to the Bank of Ghana, job vacancies advertised in the first three months of the year, increased by 9.6 percent over the 8,067 recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020.