The Ghanaian Youth Employment Agency says it’s exceeding its targets for finding productive roles for young people.
At the heart of Ghana’s efforts to combat the scourge of youth unemployment, Kofi Agyepong has emerged as a driving force behind the country’s job creation initiatives.
A year and a half since his August 2022 appointment by President Nana Akufo Addo, the 40-year-old CEO says the country’s Youth Employment Agency is ahead of schedule in its efforts to help turn young people into productive members of society. The agency is a key cog in the broader fight against the twin dangers of crime and terrorism, both fuelled by a lack of opportunity, that is destablising West Africa.
“When the youth are happy and they have jobs, violence is silenced in society,” Agyepong tells The Africa Report in an exclusive interview. “A country that does not create job opportunities for the youth is setting itself up for chaos.” About half of Ghana’s population is under the age of 25. Every year, some 250,000 youth enter the job market, according to the government statistics office.
The unemployment rate stands at 13.7%, a figure Agyepong believes can drop if young people take advantage of the various government programmes being rolled out by his outfit. Despite funding constraints, the YEA says it surpassed its projections by 18% last year, engaging 84,483 youths in various sectors of the economy
Last year, the agency unveiled several new initiatives, including a business and employment assistance programme, to boost job opportunities. Under Agyepong, the YEA says it has recruited 6,000 youth to give healthcare delivery in rural Ghana a major boost. It has also recruited more than 16,000 youth to support security agencies in an auxiliary role in addition to some 45,000 beneficiaries helping to keep the country clean. Beneficiaries earn monthly stipends between $50 and $90 paid directly into their accounts by the government in a country where a quarter of the population lives on less than $1 per day, according to the Ghana Statistical Service.
“The strategy is to get all these beneficiaries drafted into the various sectors under the appropriate institutions,” Agyepong tells The Africa Report. “For instance, those under our community protection assistance programme will this year have the opportunity to be enlisted into the police service. So, we are creating sustainable jobs and we don’t want to leave anyone out.”
High levels of youth unemployment create economic strain as a large segment of the population remains dependent on social services, increasing the burden on the government. Economic hardship can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction among the youth, potentially resulting in civil unrest, protests, or other forms of social disruption.
As violent extremism spreads from the Sahel to coastal West Africa, destabilising governments, Agyepong says political leaders across Africa must be more proactive in tackling unemployment so radicals cannot take advantage of the situation. “Unemployment is a national security issue that must be addressed in Africa,” Agyepong says. “If we don’t create a ready market for our youth now, we [will] live to regret [it] one day.”
Unemployed and disenchanted youth may become susceptible to radicalisation, he warns, with extremist groups offering “a sense of purpose or financial incentives”. “Frustrated and idle” youth may turn to criminal activity as a means of survival, he adds, “including petty crime, theft, and involvement in organised crime, all of which threaten the overall security of a country.” The global “brain drain” is another risk factor. The phenomenon of young, skilled Ghanaians seeking better opportunities abroad deprives the country of valuable human capital and represents another security risk when those who leave are critical to the nation’s development and stability.
Ghana’s job creation schemes aren’t without critics. In 2022, the country launched its GHC1bn (around $130m at the time) ‘YouStart’ programme with the ambitious goal of creating one million jobs over three years by investing in entrepreneurial ventures. Ghana has previously failed to track or sustain government-led job creation efforts in the past. With the burden of public spending getting out of control, the IMF demanded a freeze on new hires by the state as a condition of its 2015 bail out.
Still, Agyepong remains bullish on his agency’s ability to make a difference. Government support is particularly needed to reverse the ravages of COVID-19, he says. To that end, his agency plans to roll out several skills training programmes and modules aimed at preparing the youth for the job market as well as setting them up to begin their businesses after many of them lost their livelihood during the pandemic. According to a 2020 survey by the Ghana Statistical Service, about 46% of companies indicated that they had to reduce employee wages during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. This correlated to reduced standards of living for over 770,000 workers. Another 41,952 employees were laid off as businesses struggled to sustain operations.
Agyepong says massive layoffs brought devastating hardship to many working Ghanaians and their families, with “the core of the nation’s youth” getting hit. Things were even worse for small and medium businesses, as about 16% of these 16/01/2024, 11:44 AM Page 4 of 9 Things were even worse for small and medium businesses, as about 16% of these enterprises have been permanently shut down. To “cushion” the blow, Agyepong’s agency rolled out the Business and Employment Assistance Programme, or BEAP. The scheme aims to address operational inadequacies in remuneration for businesses in Ghana. Under the initiative, the agency supports small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with $45 monthly salary top-ups to some 20,000 youth.
“The programme is to solidify job retention, boost youth employment, sustain the SMEs sector and contribute to Ghana’s economic resilience,” Agyepong says. “With an expected impact on around 10,000 SMEs, the BEAP aims to create a positive ripple effect on families across the nation.”
Source - www.theafricareport.com