The Deputy Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, (TUC), Dr.Anthony Yaw Baah, has blamed Ghana’s poor economic conditions for the mass movement of the country’s youth to developed countries.
According to him, majority of young Ghanaians use unapproved methods to travel to developed continents such as Europe and the Americas just to have better working conditions.
Reports by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicate that in 2015, 350,000 migrants arrived in Europe by sea compared with 219,000 during the whole of 2014.
[contextly_sidebar id=”89oTQW2nD77cEhHiKyJrmC4tlnV1EwdU”]In 2015, 3,770 migrants were reported to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean into Europe.
Speaking to Citi News, Dr. Baah argued that most people in the working class leave the country through dangerous routes just to enjoy incentives and high incomes outside.
“We have about 8 out of ten Ghanaians working in the informal economy where their incomes are not guaranteed. The majority of them have no social security, they have no protection, they have no retirement benefit, they have no future”, he said.
He stated that most of the young working class are lured by stories of better conditions and unemployment benefits which in most cases are not true.
“Young people in Ghana are not treated well and so they are forced to leave the country whether they like it or not. Many people leave because of economic reasons”, he said.
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By Lawrence Segbefia /citifmonline.com/Ghana