A senior research fellow at the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), Dr. William Baah Boateng, has said the Youth Employment Authority (YEA) is not a sustainable avenue of job creation.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Dr. Baah Boateng explained that YEA, “is a skills training avenue to make sure the youth become employable but is not to create jobs as it were.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”I1n2xvwyXnVpRob3CqFeNcHqEqZUMLyE”]While citing joblessness as the primary economic problem confronting Ghana, he stated that the YEA modules should ideally be viewed as a short-term measure.
“I thought it was going to be a short-term measure while the government tries to grow the economy, promote private sector development, create the enabling environment and provide the infrastructure to support private sector activity to create the jobs.”
YEA not creating jobs
Dr. Boateng also noted that, the YEA was not creating jobs but was instead a tool meant to improve upon the skills of young people.
“I will not say that it is creation of jobs… the Youth Employment Program, as far as I am concerned is supposed to be just one tool to be able to solve the problem of joblessness.”
Dr. Boateng thus believes the YEA should not be Government’s focus in solving the problem of unemployment, as crafting an enabling environment for job creation would be a more prudent solution.
“It should not be something that will continue. The government’s focus should be crating the enabling environment, supporting development of human capital and all the things that will allow the private sector to work, expand, supply and employ.That is where the sustainable jobs will be created.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana